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presented  to  the 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  •  SAN  DIEGO 

by 
FRIENDS  OF  THE  LIBRARY 


MR.   JOHN  C.    ROSE 

donor 


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NATHAN   EARLY 
Phototype  from  an  Automatic  Painting.     (See  page  196.) 


TELEPATHY 

AND 

THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  RECENT  INVESTIGATIONS  REGARDING 

HYPNOTISM,  AUTOMATISM,  DREAMS,  PHANTASMS, 

AND  RELATED  PHENOMENA 


BY 


R.    OSGOOD   MASON,    A.M.,    M.D. 

Fellow  of  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine 


NEW   YORK 

HENRY   HOLT   AND   COMPANY 
1897 


Copyright,  1897, 

BY 
HENRY  HOLT  &  CO. 


PREFACE. 

To  whatever  conclusions  it  may  lead  us,  there 
is  no  mistaking  the  fact  that  now  more  than  ever 
before  is  the  public  interested  in  matters  relating 
to  the  "  New  Psychology."  Scarcely  a  day  passes 
that  notice  of  some  unusual  psychical  experience 
or  startling  phenomenon  does  not  appear  in 
popular  literature.  The  newspaper,  the  magazine, 
and  the  novel  vie  with  each  other  in  their  efforts 
to  excite  interest  and  attract  attention  by  the  dis- 
play of  these  strange  incidents,  presented  some- 
times with  intelligence  and  taste,  but  oftener  with 
a  culpable  disregard  of  both  taste  and  truth. 

The  general  reader  is  not  yet  critical  regarding 
these  matters,  but  he  is  at  least  interested,  and 
desires  to  know  what  can  be  relied  upon  as  estab- 
lished truth  amongst  these  various  reports.  There 
is  inquiry  concerning  Telepathy  or  Thought- 
Transference — is  it  a  fact  or  is  it  a  delusion  ?  Has 

Hypnotism  any  actual  standing  either  in  science 

iii 


iv  PREFACE. 

or  common  sense  ?  What  of  Clairvoyance, 
Planchette,  Trance  and  Trance  utterances,  Crystal- 
Gazing  and  Apparitions  ? 

In  the  following  papers  intelligent  readers,  both 
in  and  out  of  the  medical  profession,  will  find 
these  subjects  fairly  stated  and  discussed,  and  to 
some  of  the  questions  asked,  fair  and  reasonable 
answers  given.  It  is  with  the  hope  of  aiding 
somewhat  in  the  efforts  now  being  made  to  rescue 
from  an  uncertain  and  unreasoning  supernatural- 
ism  some  of  the  most  valuable  facts  in  nature,  and 
some  of  the  most  interesting  and  beautiful 
psychical  phenomena  in  human  experience,  that 
this  book  is  offered  to  the  public. 

To  such  studies,  however,  it  is  objected  by  some 
that  the  principles  involved  in  these  unusual 
mental  actions  are  too  vague  and  the  facts  too  new 
and  unsubstantiated  to  be  deserving  of  serious 
consideration ;  but  it  should  be  remembered  that 
all  our  knowledge,  even  that  which  is  now 
reckoned  as  science,  was  once  vague  and  tentative  ; 
it  is  absurd,  therefore,  to  ignore  newly-found  facts 
simply  because  they  are  new  and  their  laws  un- 
known ;  nevertheless,  in  psychical  matters  espe- 
cially, this  is  the  tendency  of  the  age. 

But  even  if  upon  the  practical  side  these  studies 
should  be  deemed  unsatisfactory,  it  would  not 


PREFACE.  V 

follow  that  they  are  without  use  or  interest.  It 
is  a  truism  that  our  western  civilization  is  over- 
intense  and  practical ;  it  is  materialistic,  hard, 
mechanical  ;  it  values  nothing,  it  believes  in 
nothing  that  cannot  be  weighed,  measured,  an- 
alyzed, labelled  and  appraised  ; — feeling,  intuition, 
aspiration,  monitions,  glimpses  of  knowledge  that 
are  from  within — not  external  nor  distinctly 
cognizable,  —  these  are  all  slighted,  despised, 
trampled  upon  by  a  supercilious  dilettanteism  on 
the  one  hand  and  an  uninstructed  philistinism 
on  the  other,  and  the  result  has  been  a  develop- 
ment that  is  abnormal,  unsymmetrical,  deformed, 
and  tending  to  disintegration. 

To  a  few,  oriental  mysticism,  to  others  the 
hasty  deductions  of  spiritualism,  and  to  many 
more  the  supernaturalism  of  the  various  religious 
systems,  offer  at  least  a  partial,  though  often  ex- 
aggerated, antidote  to  this  inherent  vice,  because 
they  all  contemplate  a  spiritual  or  at  least  a 
transcendental  aspect  of  man's  nature  in  contrast 
to  that  which  is  purely  material.  But  even  these 
partial  remedies  are  not  available  to  all,  and  they 
are  unsatisfactory  to  many. 

As  a  basis  to  a  more  symmetrical  and  per- 
manent development,  some  generally  recognized 
facts  relative  to  the  constitution  and  action  of 


Vi  PREFACE. 

these  more  subtle  forces  in  our  being  must  be 
certified  ;  and  as  an  introduction  to  that  work, 
it  is  hoped  that  these  studies  in  the  outlying 
fields  of  psychology  will  not  be  found  valueless. 

A  portion  of  the  papers  here  presented  are 
republished,  much  revised,  by  courtesy  of  The 
New  York  Times. 

NEW  YORK,  October,  1896. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Psychical     Research — Telepathy    or    Thought-Trans- 
ference           I 

CHAPTER  II. 

Mesmerism  and  Hypnotism — History  and  Therapeutic 

Effects 28 

CHAPTER  III. 
Hypnotism — Psychical  Aspect 51 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Lucidity  or  Clairvoyance 74 

CHAPTER  V. 
Double  or  Multiplex  Personality 116 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Natural  Somnambulism — Hypnotic  Somnambulism — 

Dreams 129 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Automatism — Planchette. 151 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Automatic  Writing,  Drawing  and  Painting 181 

vii 


Viii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

PAGE 

Crystal-gazing 198 

CHAPTER  X. 
Phantasms 224 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Phantasms,  Continued 262 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Conclusions 307 


CHAPTER  I. 

PSYCHICAL    RESEARCH — TELEPATHY    OR 
THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE. 

THE  status  of  the  old-fashioned  ghost  story  has, 
within  the  past  ten  years,  perceptibly  changed. 
Formerly,  by  the  credulous  generality  of  people, 
it  was  almost  universally  accepted  without  reason 
and  without  critical  examination.  It  was  looked 
upon  as  supernatural,  and  supernatural  things 
were  neither  to  be  doubted  nor  reasoned  about, 
and  there  the  matter  ended. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  more  learned  and  scien- 
tific, equally  without  reason  or  critical  examina- 
tion, utterly  repudiated  and  scorned  all  alleged 
facts  and  occurrences  relating  to  the  subject. 
"  We  know  what  the  laws  of  nature  are,"  they 
said,  "  and  alleged  occurrences  which  go  beyond 
or  contravene  these  laws  are  upon  their  face 
illusions  and  frauds."  And  so,  with  them  also, 
there  the  matter  ended. 

In  the  meantime,  while  the  irreclaimably  super- 


2         TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

stitious  and  credulous  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
unco-scientific  and  conservative  on  the  other, 
equally  without  knowledge  and  equally  without 
reason,  have  gone  on  believing  and  disbelieving, 
a  large  number  of  people — intelligent,  inquiring, 
quick-witted,  and  reasonable,  some  scientific  and 
some  unscientific — have  come  to  think  seriously 
regarding  unusual  occurrences  and  phenomena, 
either  witnessed  or  experienced  by  themselves  or 
related  by  others,  and  whose  reality  they  could 
not  doubt,  although  their  relations  to  ordinary 
conditions  of  life  were  mysterious  and  occult. 

In  the  investigation  of  these  subjects  some  new 
and  unfamiliar  terms  have  come  into  more  or  less 
common  use.  We  hear  of  mind-reading,  telep- 
athy, hypnotism,  clairvoyance,  and  psychical  re- 
search, some  of  which  terms  still  stand  for  some- 
thing mysterious,  uncanny,  perhaps  even  super- 
natural, but  they  have  at  least  excited  interest 
and  inquiry.  The  subjects  which  they  represent 
have  even  permeated  general  literature ;  the 
novelist  has  made  use  of  this  widespread  interest 
in  occult  subjects  and  has  introduced  many  of 
the  strange  and  weird  features  which  they  pre- 
sent into  his  department  of  literature.  Some  have 
made  use  of  this  new  material  without  knowledge 
or  taste,  merely  to  excite  wonder  and  attract  the 


PRELIMINARY  WORK.  3 

vulgar,  while  others  use  it  philosophically,  with 
knowledge  and  discrimination,  for  the  purpose  of 
educating  their  readers  in  a  new  and  important 
department  of  knowledge  and  thought. 

Amongst  the  more  scientific,  societies  have  been 
formed,  reports  have  been  read  and  published,  so 
that  in  scientific  and  literary  circles  as  well  as 
among  the  unlearned  the  subject  has  become  one 
of  interest. 

The  object  of  these  papers  will  be  briefly  to 
tell  in  connection  with  my  own  observations,  what 
is  known  and  what  is  thought  by  others  who 
have  studied  the  subject  carefully,  and  especially 
what  has  been  done  by  the  English  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  and  kindred  societies. 

When  an  expedition  is  sent  out  for  the  purpose 
of  exploring  new  and  unknown  regions,  it  is  often 
necessary  to  send  forward  scouts  to  obtain  some 
general  ideas  concerning  the  nature  of  the  coun- 
try, its  conformation,  water-courses,  inhabitants, 
and  food  supplies.  The  scouts  return  and  report 
what  they  have  discovered  ;  their  reports  are 
listened  to  with  interest,  and  upon  these  reports 
often  depend  the  movements  and  success  of  the 
whole  expedition.  It  will  easily  be  seen  how 
important  it  is  that  the  scouts  should  be  intelli- 
gent, sharp-witted,  courageous  and  truthful ;  and 


4         TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

it  will  also  be  evident  that  the  report  of  these 
scouts  concerning  the  new  and  unknown  country 
is  much  more  valuable  than  the  preconceived 
opinions  of  geographers  and  philosophers,  no  mat- 
ter how  eminent  they  may  be,  who  have  simply 
stayed  at  home,  enjoyed  their  easy-chair,  and  de- 
clared off-hand  that  the  new  country  was  useless 
and  uninhabitable. 

The  outlying  fields  of  psychology,  which  are 
now  the  subject  of  psychical  research,  are  com- 
paratively a  new  and  unexplored  region,  and  until 
within  a  few  years  it  has  been  considered  a  barren 
and  unproductive  one,  into  which  it  was  silly,  dis- 
reputable, and  even  dangerous  to  enter ;  the  re- 
gion was  infested  with  dream-mongers,  spiritual- 
ists, clairvoyants,  mesmerists,  and  cranks,  and  the 
more  vigorously  it  was  shunned  the  safer  would 
he  be  who  had  a  reputation  of  any  kind  to  lose. 

Such  substantially  was  the  condition  of  public 
sentiment,  and  especially  of  sentiment  in  strictly 
scientific  circles,  fourteen  years  ago,  when  the 
English  Society  for  Psychical  Research  came  into 
being.  The  first  movement  in  the  direction  of 
systematic  study  and  exploration  in  this  new  field 
was  a  preliminary  meeting  called  by  Prof.  W.  F. 
Barrett,  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, and  a  few  other  gentlemen  on  Jan.  6, 1882, 


SOCIETY  FOR  PSYCHICAL  RESEARCH.  5 

when  the  formation  of  such  a  society  was  pro- 
posed ;  and  in  the  following  month  the  society 
was  definitely  organized  and  officers  were  chosen. 
The  first  general  meeting  for  business  and  listen- 
ing to  reports  took  place  July  i/th  of  the  same 
year. 

The  persons  associated  in  this  society  were  of 
the  most  staid  and  respectable  character,  noted 
for  solid  sense,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  them 
for  practical  work  were  also  trained  in  scientific 
methods,  and  were  already  eminent  in  special 
departments  of  science. 

Prof.  Henry  Sidgwick,  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, was  President  ;  Prof.  W.  F.  Barrett, 
F.  R.  S.  E.,  Royal  College  of  Science,  Dublin,  and 
Prof.  Balfour  Stewart,  F.  R.  S.,  Owens  College, 
Manchester,  were  Vice- Presidents,  and  among  the 
members  were  a  large  number  of  well-known 
names  of  Fellows  of  various  learned  and  royal 
societies,  professional  men,  and  members  of  Par- 
liament, altogether  giving  character  to  the  society, 
as  well  as  assuring  sensible  methods  in  its  work. 
Among  the  subjects  first  taken  up  for  examina- 
tion and,  so  far  as  possible,  for  experimental  study, 
were  the  following  : — 

(i)  Thought-transference,  or  an  examination 
into  the  nature  and  extent  of  any  influence  which 


6    TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

may  be  exerted  by  one  mind  upon  another,  apart 
from  any  generally  recognized  mode  of  perception 
or  communication. 

(2)  The  study  of  hypnotism  and  the  forms  of 
so-called  mesmeric  trance. 

(3)  An  investigation  of  well-authenticated  re- 
ports regarding  apparitions  and  disturbances  in 
houses  reputed  to  be  haunted. 

(4)  An  inquiry  into  various  psychical  phenom- 
ena commonly  called  Spiritualistic. 

The  first  report  made  to  the  society  was  con- 
cerning thought-reading,  or  thought-transference, 
and  was  a  description  of  various  experiments  un- 
dertaken with  a  view  to  determine  the  question 
whether  one  person  or  one  mind  can  receive  im- 
pressions or  intelligence  from  another  person  or 
mind  without  communication  by  word,  touch,  or 
sign,  or  by  any  means  whatsoever  apart  from  the 
ordinary  and  recognized  methods  of  perception,  or 
the  ordinary  channels  of  communication. 

What  is  meant  by  thought-transference  is  per- 
haps most  simply  illustrated  by  the  common 
amusement  known  as  the  "  willing  game  "  ;  it  is 
played  as  follows  : — 

The  person  to  be  influenced  or  "  willed  "  is  sent 
out  of  the  room  ;  those  remaining  then  agree 
upon  some  act  which  that  person  is  to  be  willed 


THE  "  WILLING  GAME."  f 

to  accomplish ;  as,  for  instance,  to  take  some  par- 
ticular piece  of  bric-a-brac  from  a  table  or  cabinet 
and  place  it  upon  the  piano,  or  to  find  some  article 
which  has  been  purposely  hidden.  The  person  to 
be  willed  is  then  brought  back  into  the  room ;  the 
leader  of  the  game  places  one  hand  lightly  upon 
her  shoulder  or  arm,  and  the  whole  company 
think  intently  upon  the  act  agreed  upon  in  her 
absence.  If  the  game  is  successful,  the  person  so 
willed  goes,  with  more  or  less  promptness,  takes  the 
piece  of  bric-a-brac  thought  of,  and  places  it  upon 
the  piano,  as  before  agreed  upon  by  the  company, 
or  she  goes  with  more  or  less  directness  and  dis- 
covers the  hidden  article.  Nervous  agitation,  ex- 
citement, even  faintness  or  actual  syncope,  are 
not  unusual  accompaniments  of  the  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  person  so  willed,  circumstances  which 
at  least  show  the  unusual  character  of  the  per- 
formance and  also  the  necessity  for  caution  in 
conducting  it. 

If  the  game  is  played  honestly,  as  it  generally 
is,  the  person  to  be  willed,  when  she  returns  to 
the  room,  is  absolutely  ignorant  of  what  act  she 
is  expected  to  perform,  and  the  person  with  whom 
she  is  placed  in  contact  does  not  intentionally 
give  her  any  clue  or  information  during  the  prog- 
ress of  the  game. 


8    TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

In  the  more  formal  experiments  the  person 
who  is  willed  is  known  as  the  sensitive,  subject, 
or  percipient ;  the  person  who  conducts  the  ex- 
periment is  known  as  the  agent  or  operator.  The 
sensitive  is  presumed  to  receive,  in  some  unusual 
manner,  from  the  minds  of  the  agent  and  the 
company,  an  impression  regarding  the  action  to 
be  performed,  without  communication  between 
them  in  any  ordinary  manner. 

This  is  one  of  the  simplest  forms  of  thought- 
transference  ;  it  is,  of  course,  liable  to  many  errors, 
and  is  useless  as  a  scientific  test. 

Bishop,  Cumberland,  and  other  mind  readers 
who  have  exhibited  their  remarkable  powers  all 
over  the  world,  were  doubtless  sensitives  who 
possessed  this  power  of  perception  or  receiving 
impressions  in  a  high  degree,  so  that  minute  ob- 
jects, such  as  an  ordinary  watch-key,  hidden  in  a 
barrel  of  rubbish  in  a  cellar  and  in  a  distant  part 
of  an  unfamiliar  city,  is  quickly  found,  the  sen- 
sitive being  connected  with  the  agent  by  the 
slightest  contact,  or  perhaps  only  by  a  string  or 
wire. 

The  question  at  issue  in  all  these  cases  is  the 
same,  namely,  do  the  sensitives  receive  their  im- 
pressions regarding  what  they  have  to  do  from 
the  mind  of  the  agent  by  some  process  other 


DR.  CARPENTER'S  THEORY.  9 

than  the  ordinary  means  of  communication,  such 
as  seeing,  hearing,  or  touch ;  or  do  they,  by  the 
exceeding  delicacy  of  their  perception,  receive 
impressions  from  slight  indications  unintentionally 
and  unconsciously  conveyed  to  them  by  the  agent 
through  the  slight  contact  which  is  kept  up  be- 
tween them  ? 

The  opinion  of  a  majority  of  scientific  persons 
has  been  altogether  averse  to  the  theory  of 
thought-transference  from  one  mind  to  another 
without  the  aid  of  the  senses  and  the  ordinary 
means  of  communication  ;  and  they  have  main- 
tained that  intimations  of  the  thing  to  be  done 
by  the  sensitive  were  conveyed  by  slight  muscular 
movements  unconsciously  made  by  the  agent  and 
perhaps  unconsciously  received  by  the  sensitive. 
To  explain,  or  rather  to  formulate  these  cases, 
Dr.  William  B.  Carpenter,  the  eminent  English 
physiologist,  proposed  the  theory  of  "  uncon- 
scious muscular  action  "  on  the  part  of  the  agent 
and  "  unconscious  cerebration "  on  the  part  of 
the  sensitive ;  and  his  treatment  of  the  whole 
subject  in  his  "  Mental  Physiology,"  which  was 
published  twenty  years  ago,  and  also  in  his  book 
on  "  Mesmerism  and  Spiritualism,"  was  thought 
by  many  to  be  conclusive  against  the  theory 
of  mind-reading  or  thought-transference.  Espe- 


10        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 

cially  was  this  view  entertained  by  the  more  con- 
servative portion  of  the  various  scientific  bodies 
interested  in  the  subject,  and  also  by  that  large 
class  of  people,  scientific  and  otherwise,  who  save 
themselves  much  trouble  by  taking  their  opinions 
ready  made. 

It  was  a  very  easy  way  of  disposing  of  the 
matter,  so  thoroughly  scientific,  and  it  did  not 
involve  the  necessity  of  studying  any  new  force 
or  getting  into  trouble  with  any  new  laws  of 
mental  action ;  it  was  simply  delightful,  and  the 
physiologists  rubbed  their  hands  gleefully  over 
the  apparent  discomfiture  of  the  shallow  cranks 
who  imagined  they  had  discovered  something 
new.  There  was  only  one  troublesome  circum- 
stance about  the  whole  affair.  It  was  this :  that 
cases  were  every  now  and  then  making  their  ap- 
pearance which  absolutely  refused  to  be  explained 
by  the  new  theory  of  Dr.  Carpenter,  and  the  only 
way  of  disposing  of  these  troublesome  cases  was 
to  declare  that  the  people  who  observed  them 
did  not  know  how  to  observe,  and  did  not  see 
what  they  thought  they  saw. 

This  was  the  state  of  the  question,  and  this  the 
way  in  which  it  was  generally  regarded,  when  it 
was  taken  up  for  investigation  by  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research. 


THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE  CLASSIFIED.         n 

Experiments  on  the  subject  of  thought-trans- 
ference fall  naturally  into  four  classes  : 

(1)  Those  where  some   prearranged    action  is 
accomplished,  personal  contact  being  maintained 
between  the  operator  and  the  sensitive. 

(2)  Similar  performances  where  there  is  no  con- 
tact whatever. 

(3)  Where  a  name,  number,  object,  or  card  is 
guessed  or  perceived  and  expressed  by  speech  or 
writing  without   any  perceptible   means   of   ob- 
taining  intelligence    by   the   senses   or   through 
any   of  the    ordinary   channels    of   communica- 
tion. 

(4)  Where  the  same  ideas  have  occurred  or  the 
same  impressions  have  been  conveyed  at  the  same 
moment  to  the  minds  of  two  or  more   persons 
widely  separated  from  each  other. 

The  first  and  second  of  these  classes  are  simply 
examples  of  the  "  willing  game  "  carried  on  under 
more  strict  conditions,  but  they  are  not  counted 
as  of  special  value  on  account  of  the  possibility  of 
information  being  conveyed  when  contact  is  per- 
mitted, and  by  means  of  slight  signals,  mere  move- 
ments of  the  eye,  finger,  or  lip,  which  might 
quickly  be  seized  upon  and  interpreted  by  the  sen- 
sitive, even  when  there  was  no  actual  contact.  The 
third  and  fourth  class,  however,  seem  to  exclude 


12        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

these  and  all  other  ordinary  or  recognizable  means 
of  communication. 

The  following  are  examples  of  the  third  class, 
namely,  where  some  object,  number,  name,  or  card 
has  been  guessed  or  perceived  without  the  aid  of 
the  senses,  and  without  any  of  the  ordinary  means 
of  communication  between  the  operator  and  the 
subject. 

The  first  experiments  here  reported  were  made 
in  the  family  of  a  clergyman,  by  himself,  together 
with  his  five  daughters,  ranging  from  ten  to  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  all  thoroughly  healthy  persons, 
and  without  any  peculiar  nervous  development. 
The  daughters  and  sometimes,  also,  a  young  maid- 
servant, were  the  sensitives,  and  the  clergyman, 
when  alone  with  his  family,  acted  as  agent.  The 
test  experiments  made  in  this  family  were  con- 
ducted by  two  competent  and  well-qualified  ob- 
servers, members  of  the  society,  and  no  member 
of  the  family  was  permitted  to  know  the  word, 
name,  or  object  selected,  except  that  the  child 
chosen  to  act  as  sensitive  was  told  to  what  class 
the  object  belonged  ;  for  instance,  whether  it  was 
a  number,  card,  or  name  of  some  person  or  place. 

The  child  was  then  sent  out  of  the  room  and 
kept  under  observation  while  the  test  object  was 
agreed  upon,  and  was  then  recalled  by  one  of  the 


MANNER  OF  EXPERIMENTING.  13 

experimenters  ;  and  while  giving  her  answers  she 
"  stood  near  the  door  with  downcast  eyes,"  and 
often  with  her  back  to  the  company.  The  experi- 
ments were  conducted  in  perfect  silence  except- 
ing the  child's  answer  and  the  "  right  "  or  "  wrong  " 
of  the  agent. 

It  has  been  charged  that  these  children,  later, 
were  caught  signalling  during  the  experiments. 
This  is  true  by  their  own  confession,  but  it  is  also 
true  that  there  was  no  signalling  during  the  earlier 
experiments,  also  that  the  signalling  when  used 
did  not  improve  the  results,  and  furthermore  that 
after  they  began  signalling  the  effort  to  keep  the 
mind  consciously  active  and  acute  during  their 
trials  injured  the  passive  condition  necessary  for 
success,  and  eventually  destroyed  their  sensitive- 
ness and  thought-reading  power  altogether. 

Besides,  most  of  the  tests  were  made  when  only 
the  one  child  was  in  the  room,  and,  as  will  be  no- 
ticed, many  of  the  tests  were  of  such  a  nature  that 
signalling  would  be  out  of  the  question,  especially 
with  their  little  experience  and  clumsy  code. 

The  following  results  were  obtained,  the  name 
of  the  object  agreed  upon  being  given  in 
italics : — 

A  white-handled  penknife.  Was  named  and 
color  given  on  the  first  trial.  A  box  of  almonds. 


14       TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Named  correctly.  A  three-penny  piece.  Failed. 
A  box  of  chocolate.  A  button  box.  A  penknife, 
hidden.  Failed  to  state  where  it  was. 

Trial  with  cards,  to  be  named  :— 

Two  of  clubs.  Right.  Seven  of  diamonds.  Right. 
Four  of  spades.  Failed.  Four  of  hearts.  Right. 
King  of  hearts.  Right.  Two  of  diamonds.  Right. 
Ace  of  hearts.  Right.  Nine  of  spades.  Right. 
Five  of  diamonds.  Four  of  diamonds  (wrong); 
then  four  of  hearts,  (wrong);  then  five  of  dia- 
monds, which  was  right  on  the  third  trial.  Two  of 
spades.  Right.  Eight  of  diamonds.  Wrong.  Ace 
of  diamonds.  Wrong.  Three  of  hearts.  Right. 
Four  of  clubs.  Wrong.  Ace  of  spades.  Wrong. 

The  following  results  were  obtained  with  ficti- 
tious names: — 

William  Stubbs.  Right.  Eliza  Holmes.  Eliza 
H.  Isaac  Harding.  Right.  Sophia  Shaw.  Right. 
Hester  Willis.  Cassandra — then  Hester  Wilson. 
John  Jones.  Right.  Timothy  Taylor.  Tom,  then 
Timothy  Taylor.  Esther  Ogle.  Right.  Arthur 
Higgins.  Right.  Alfred  Henderson.  Right.  Amy 
Frogmore.  Amy  Freemore,  then  Amy  Frogmore. 
Albert  Snelgrove.  Albert  Singrore,  then  Albert 
Grover. 

On  another  occasion  the  following  result  was 
obtained  with  cards,  Mary,  the  eldest  daughter, 


RESULTS  OF  EXPERIMENTS.  15 

being  the  percipient :  In  thirty-one  successive 
trials  the  first  only  was  an  entire  failure,  six  of 
spades  being  given  in  answer  for  the  eight  of 
spades.  Of  the  remaining  thirty  consecutive  trials, 
in  seventeen  the  card  was  correctly  named  on  the 
first  attempt,  nine  on  the  second,  and  four  on  the 
third. 

It  should  here  be  observed,  that  according  to 
the  calculus  of  probabilities,  the  chances  that  an 
ordinary  guesser  would  be  correct  in  his  guess  on 
the  first  trial  is,  in  cards,  of  course,  one  in  fifty- 
one,  but  in  these  trials,  numbering  382  in  all,  and 
extending  over  six  days,  the  average  was  one  in 
three,  and  second  and  third  guesses  being  allowed 
the  successes  were  more  than  one  in  two,  almost 
two  in  three. 

The  chances  against  guessing  the  card  cor- 
rectly five  times  in  succession  are  more  than 
1,000,000  to  i,  and  against  this  happening  eight 
times  in  succession  are  more  than  142,000,000  to 
i,  yet  the  former  happened  several  times  and  the 
latter  twice — once  with  cards  arid  once  with  ficti- 
tious names,  the  chances  against  success  in  the 
latter  case  being  almost  incalculable. 

The  following  experiments  were  also  made 
among  many  others,  Miss  Maud  Creery  being  the 
percipient : — 


16        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  (i)  What  town  have  we  thought  of  ?  A.  Bux- 
ton  :  which  was  correct. 

"  (2)  What  town  have  we  thought  of  ?  A.  Der- 
by. What  part  did  you  think  of  first  ?  A. 
Railway  station.  (So  did  I.)  What  next?  A. 
The  market-place.  (So  did  I.) 

"  (3)  What  town  have  we  thought  of  ?  A. 
Something  commencing  with  L.  (Pause  of  a 
minute.)  Lincoln.  (Correct.) 

"  (4)  What  town  have  we  thought  of  ?  A. 
Fairfield.  What  part  did  you  think  of  first  ?  A. 
The  road  to  it.  (So  did  I.)  What  next?  A. 
The  triangular  green  behind  the  Bull's  Head  Inn. 
(So  did  I.)  " 

In  seeking  an  explanation  for  these  remarkable 
results  coincidence  and  chance  may,  it  would 
seem,  be  utterly  excluded.  Touch  and  hearing 
must  also  be  excluded,  since  the  guesser  did 
not  come  in  contact  with  any  person  during  the 
experiments,  and  they  were  conducted  in  perfect 
silence  excepting  the  answers  of  the  percipient  or 
the  "  yes  "  or  "  no  "  of  the  agent. 

We  have  left,  then,  only  the  unconscious  indi- 
cations which  might  possibly  be  given  by  look, 
movement  of  a  finger,  lip,  or  muscle  by  persons 
who  were  present  especially  on  account  of  their 
desire  and  ability  to  detect  any  such  communica- 


REASONABLE  CONCLUSIONS.  17 

tion,  and  on  account  of  their  ability  to  avoid 
giving  information  in  any  such  manner  themselves. 

It  seems,  in  fact,  quite  incredible  that  informa- 
tion thus  conveyed  could  be  sufficient  to  affect 
the  result  in  so  large  a  number  of  experiments, 
especially  where  the  experiments  included  the 
names  of  places  and  fictitious  names  of  persons. 
Even  where  signalling  is  successfully  carried  on,  as, 
for  instance,  in  stage  tricks,  it  is  a  regular  feat  of 
memory  accomplished  between  two  people  who 
have  studied  and  practised  it  assiduously  for  a 
long  time,  while  here  were  simply  children, 
brought  in  contact,  without  rehearsal,  with  stran- 
gers, whose  object  it  was  to  detect  the  trick  if  any 
were  practised  among  them. 

We  are  forced,  then,  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
knowledge  which  these  sensitives  exhibited  con- 
cerning the  objects,  names,  or  cards  which  were 
given  them  as  tests,  did  not  come  to  them  by  any 
ordinary  sense  of  perception  obtained  either  legit- 
imately or  by  trick,  but  came  to  them  directly 
from  the  minds  of  other  persons  acting  as  agents 
and  striving  to  impress  them,  and  that  this  knowl- 
edge or  these  impressions  were  received  by  some 
means  other  than  through  the  ordinary  channels 
of  communication. 

Another    method    of   demonstrating   thought- 


l8        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

transference  which  should  be  mentioned  here,  is 
by  means  of  diagrams.  The  experiment  may  be 
made  as  follows: — The  percipient,  being  blind- 
folded, is  seated  at  a  table  with  his  back  to  the 
operator,  without  contact  and  in  perfect  silence. 
A  diagram — for  instance,  a  circle  with  a  cross  in  the 
centre — is  distinctly  drawn  by  a  third  person  and 
so  held  as  to  be  in  full  view  of  the  operator,  who 
looks  at  it  in  silence,  steadily  and  with  concen- 
trated attention. 

The  impression  made  by  the  diagram  upon  the 
mind  of  the  operator  is  gradually  perceived  by 
the  percipient,  who,  after  a  time  varying  from  a 
few  seconds  to  several  minutes,  declares  himself 
ready.  The  bandages  are  then  removed  from  his 
eyes,  and  to  the  best  of  his  ability  he  draws  the  im- 
pression which  came  to  him  while  blindfolded. 
The  results  have  varied  in  accuracy,  very  much  as 
did  the  results  in  the  experiments  with  objects 
and  cards  already  described. 

The  following  diagrams  are  from  drawings  and 
reproductions  made  in  the  manner  just  described. 
They  are  from  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  and  were  the  result  of  experi- 
ments made  by  Mr.  Malcolm  Guthrie  and  Mr. 
James  Birchall,  two  prominent  and  cultivated 
citizens  of  Liverpool,  together  with  three  or  four 


MR.  GUTHRIES  EXPERIMENTS 


III.    Original 
Drawing. 


I.    Original  I.    Reproduction. 

Drawing. 


II.    Original  II.    Reproduction. 

Drawing. 


III.    Reproduction. 


IV.    Original 
Drawing. 


IV.    Repro- 
duction. 


20       TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 


ladies,  personal  friends  of  theirs,  all  of  whom 
undertook  the  experiments  with  the  definite 
purpose  of  testing  the  truth  or  falsity  of  thought- 
transference. 

I  will  also  quote  another  experiment,  which  is 
only  a  fair  example  of  a  very  large  number,  care- 
fully carried  out  from  April  to  November,  1883. 
In  many  of  the  experiments  members  of  the 
Committee  on  Thought-transference  from  the 
S.  P.  R.  were  present. 

APRIL  20th,  1883. — Present,  Mr.  Guthrie,  Mr. 
Birchall,  Mr.  Steel,  and  four  ladies : — 


AGENT. 

PERCIPIENT. 

OBJECT. 

RESULT. 

Mrs.  E. 

Miss  R. 

A  square  of  pink  silk  on 
black  satin. 

"  Pink  .  .  .  Square."  An- 
swered almost  instantly. 

do. 

do. 

A  ring  of  white  silk   on 
black  satin. 

"  Can't  see  it." 

Miss  R. 

Miss  E. 

Word    RES,  letter   by 
letter. 

Each  letter  was  named 
correctly  by  Miss  E.  as 
it  was  placed  before  Miss 
R. 

do. 

do. 

Letter  Q. 

"Q."     First  answer. 

do. 

do. 

Letter  F. 

"  F."     First  answer. 

All  present. 

Miss  R. 

A  gilt  cross  held  by  Mr. 
G.  behind  the  percip- 
ient. 

"  It  is  a  cross."  Asked, 
which  way  is  it  held,  per- 
cipient replied,"The  right 
way."  Correct. 

do. 

do. 

A  yellow  paper  knife. 

"Yellow  ...  is  it  a  fea- 
ther? ...  It  looks  like 
a  knife  with  a  thin 
handle." 

do. 

do. 

A  pair  of  scissors  stand- 
ing open  and  upright. 

"  It  is  silver  .  .  .  No,  it  is 
steel  ...  It  is  a  pair  of 
scissors  standing  up- 
right." 

MR.  GUTHRIE'S  EXPERIMENTS. 


21 


Success  was  different  on  different  occasions,  but 
this  represents  an  ordinary  series  of  experiments 
at  one  sitting.  In  these  experiments  with  objects, 
the  percipient  was  blindfolded  and  the  object 
moreover  was  kept  out  of  range  of  vision.  In 
some  experiments  slight  contact  was  permitted, 
and  in  some  it  was  not,  but  it  was  found  that  con- 
tact had  little  if  any  effect  upon  the  result. 

Remarkable  success  was  also  obtained  in  the 
transference  of  sensation,  such  as  taste,  smell,  or 
pain,  while  the  percipient  was  in  a  normal  con- 
dition, that  is,  not  hypnotized. 

The  following  is  an  average  example  of  the 
transference  of  taste : — 

The  tasters,  Mr.  Guthrie  (M.  G.),  Mr.  Gurney 
(E.  G.),  and  Mr.  Myers  (M.).  The  percipients  were 
two  young  ladies  in  Mr.  Guthrie's  employ. 

SEPT.  3,  1883. 


TASTERS. 

PERCIPIENT. 

SUBSTANCE. 

ANSWER  GIVEN. 

E.  G.    &   M. 

E. 

Worcestershire  Sauce. 

"Worcestershire  Sauce." 

M.  G. 

R. 

" 

"  Vinegar." 

E.  G.  &  M. 

E. 

Port  wine. 

"  Between  eau  de  Cologne 
and  beer." 

M.  G. 

R. 

« 

"  Raspberry  Vinegar." 

E.  G.  &  M. 

E. 

Bitter  aloes. 

"  Horrible  and  bitter." 

M.  G. 

R. 

Alum. 

"  A  taste  of  ink  —  of  iron  —  of 
vinegar.     I  feel  it  on  my 
lips—  it  is  as  though  I  had 
been  eating  alum." 

22        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Some  very  striking  experiments  were  made  by 
Mr.  J.  W.  Smith  of  Brunswick  Place,  Leeds,  as 
agent,  and  his  sister  Kate  as  percipient.  Their 
success  with  diagrams  fully  equalled  those  already 
given,  and  with  objects  the  results  have  seldom 
been  equalled.  The  following  trials  were  made 
March  nth,  1884.  The  intelligence  and  good 
faith  of  the  participants  is  undoubted. 

Agent:  J.  W.  Smith.    Percipient :  Kate  Smith. 

OBJECT  SELECTED.  NAMED. 

Figure  8 Correct  first  time. 

Figure  5 "         "         " 

Black  cross  on  white  ground.     .    .  "         "         " 

Color    blue "         "         " 

Cipher    (o) "         "         " 

Pair  of  Scissors. — Percipient  was  not  told  what  (i.  e.  what 
form  of  experiment,  figure,  color  or  object)  was  to  be  next — but 
carefully  and  without  noise  a  pair  of  scissors  was  placed  on  white 
ground,  and  in  about  one  minute  and  a  half  she  exclaimed  : 
"  Scissors  I " 

The  number  of  facts  and  experiments  bearing 
upon  this  division  of  our  subject  is  well-nigh  inex- 
haustible ;  those  already  presented  will  serve  as 
illustrations  and  will  also  show  upon  what  sort  of 
evidence  is  founded  the  probability  that  percep- 
tions and  impressions  are  really  conveyed  from 
one  mind  to  another  in  some  other  manner  than 
by  the  ordinary  and  recognized  methods  of  com- 
munication. 


IMPRESSION  RECEIVED  BY  TWO  PERSONS.     23 

It  remains  to  give  one  or  two  illustrations  of 
the  fourth  division  of  the  subject,  namely,  where 
similar  thoughts  have  simultaneously  occurred,  or 
similar  impressions  have  been  made  upon  the 
minds  of  persons  at  a  distance  from  each  other 
without  any  known  method  of  communication 
between  them. 

The  first  case  was  received  and  examined  by 
the  society  in  the  summer  of  1885.  One  of  the 
percipients  writes  as  follows : — 

"  My  sister-in-law,  Sarah  Eustance,  of  Stretton, 
was  lying  sick  unto  death,  and  my  wife  had  gone 
over  there  from  Lawton  Chapel  (twelve  or  thir- 
teen miles  off)  to  see  and  tend  her  in  her  last 
moments.  On  the  night  before  her  death  I  was 
sleeping  at  home  alone,  and,  awaking,  I  heard  a 
voice  distinctly  call  me. 

"  Thinking  it  was  my  niece  Rosanna,  the  only 
other  occupant  of  the  house,  I  went  to  her  room 
and  found  her  awake  and  nervous.  I  asked  her 
whether  she  had  called  me.  She  answered  :  '  No  ; 
but  something  awoke  me,  when  I  heard  some  one 
calling.'  On  my  wife  returning  home  after  her 
sister's  death  she  told  me  how  anxious  her  sister 
had  been  to  see  me,  craving  for  me  to  be  sent  for, 
and  saying,  '  Oh,  how  I  want  to  see  Done  once 
more !  "  and  soon  after  became  speechless.  But 


24       TELE  PA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

the  curious  part  was  that,  about  the  same  time 
that  she  was  '  craving,'  I  and  my  niece  heard  the 
call." 

In  answer  -to  a  letter  of  inquiry  he  further 
writes : — 

"  My  wife,  who  went  from  Lawton  that  partic- 
ular Sunday  to  see  her  sister,  will  testify,  that  as 
she  attended  upon  her  (after  the  departure  of  the 
minister)  during  the  night,  she  was  asking  and 
craving  for  me,  repeatedly  saying,  '  Oh,  I  wish  I 
could  see  Uncle  Done  and  Rosie  once  more  before 
I  go  ! '  and  soon  after  she  became  unconscious, 
or  at  least  ceased  speaking,  and  died  the  next  day, 
of  which  fact  I  was  not  aware  until  my  wife 
returned  on  the  evening  of  the  Fourth  of  July." 

Mrs.  Sewill,  the  Rosie  referred  to,  writes  as 
follows : — 

"  I  was  awakened  suddenly,  without  apparent 
cause,  and  heard  a  voice  calling  me  distinctly, 
thus :  '  Rosie,  Rosie,  Rosie.'  "  We  (my  uncle 
and  myself)  were  the  only  occupants  of  the  house 
that  night,  aunt  being  away  attending  upon  her 
sister.  I  never  was  called  before  or  since." 

The  second  case  is  reported  by  a  medical  man 
of  excellent  reputation  to  whom  the  incident  was 
related  by  both  Lady  G.  and  her  sister,  the  percip- 
ients in  the  case.  It  is  as  follows : — • 


LADY  G.  AND  HER  SISTER.  25 

"  Lady  G.  and  her  sister  had  been  spending  the 
evening  with  their  mother,  who  was  in  her  usual 
health  and  spirits  when  they  left  her.  In  the 
middle  of  the  night  the  sister  awoke  in  a  fright 
and  said  to  her  husband  :  '  I  must  go  to  my 
mother  at  once ;  do  order  the  carriage.  I  am  sure 
she  is  taken  ill.'  The  husband,  after  trying  in  vain 
to  convince  his  wife  that  it  was  only  a  fancy, 
ordered  the  carriage.  As  she  was  approaching  her 
mother's  house,  where  two  roads  meet,  she  saw 
Lady  G.'s  carriage  approaching.  As  soon  as  they 
met,  each  asked  the  other  why  she  was  there  at 
that  unseasonable  hour,  and  both  made  the  same 
reply : — 

'  I  could  not  sleep,  feeling  sure  my  mother  was 
ill,  and  so  I  came  to  see.'  As  they  came  in  sight 
of  the  house  they  saw  their  mother's  confidential 
maid  at  the  door,  who  told  them,  when  they 
arrived,  that  their  mother  had  been  taken  suddenly 
ill  and  was  dying,  and  that  she  had  expressed  an 
earnest  wish  to  see  her  daughters." 

The  reporter  adds  : — 

"  The  mother  was  a  lady  of  strong  will  and 
always  had  a  great  influence  over  her  daughters." 

Many  well-authenticated  instances  of  a  similar 
character  could  be  cited,  but  the  above  are  suffi- 
cient for  illustration,  which  is  the  object  here 


26        TELEPATHY  AND   THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

chiefly  in  view,  and  other  facts  still  further  illus- 
trating this  division  of  the  subject  will  appear  in 
other  relations. 

The  foregoing  facts  and  experiments  are  suffi- 
cient to  indicate  what  is  understood  by  thought- 
transference,  or  telepathy,  and  also  to  indicate 
what  might  be  called  the  skirmishing  ground  be- 
tween the  class  of  psychologists  represented  by 
the  active  workers  in  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  and  kindred  societies  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  conservative  scientists,  mostly  physiolo- 
gists, who  are  incredulous  of  any  action  of  the 
the  mind  for  which  they  cannot  find  an  appro- 
priate organ  and  a  proper  method,  on  the  other. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  thought-transference  as 
here  set  forth  is  established  beyond  all  possibility 
of  doubt  or  cavil,  especially  from  those  who  choose 
to  remain  ignorant  of  the  facts,  but  only  that  its 
facts  are  solid  and  their  interpretation  reasonable, 
and  that  thought-transference  has  now  the  same 
claim  to  acceptance  by  well-informed  people  that 
many  of  the  now  accepted  facts  in  physical  sci- 
ence had  in  its  early  days  of  growth  and  develop- 
ment. 

The  reality  of  thought-transference  being  once 
established,  a  vast  field  for  investigation  is  opened 
up  ;  a  new  law,  as  it  were,  is  discovered  ;  and  how 


A  NEW  FIELD  OF  STUDY.  27 

far-reaching  and  important  its  influence  and 
bearing  may  be  upon  alleged  facts  and  phenomena 
which  heretofore  have  been  disbelieved,  or  set 
down  as  chance  occurrences,  or  explained  away  as 
hallucinations,  is  at  present  the  interesting  study 
of  the  experimental  psychologist. 


CHAPTER  II. 

MESMERISM     AND     HYPNOTISM — HISTORY      AND 
THERAPEUTIC   EFFECTS. 

No  department  of  psychical  research  is  at 
present  exciting  so  widespread  an  interest  as  that 
which  is  known  under  the  name  of  Hypnotism  ; 
and  inquiries  are  constantly  made  by  those  to 
whom  the  subject  is  new,  regarding  its  nature  and 
effects,  and  also  how,  if  at  all,  it  differs  from  the 
mesmerism  and  animal  magnetism  of  many  years 
ago. 

Unfortunately,  these  questions  are  more  easily 
asked  than  answered,  and  well-informed  persons, 
and  even  those  considered  experts  in  the  subject, 
would  doubtless  give  different  and  perhaps  oppos- 
ing answers  to  them.  A  short  historical  sketch 
may  help  in  forming  an  opinion. 

From  the  remotest  periods  of  human  history  to 
the  present  time,  certain  peculiar  and  unusual 
conditions  of  mind,  sometimes  associated  with 

abnormal  conditions  of  body,  have  been  observed, 

28 


MESMEFS  EXPERIMENTS.  29 

during  which  unusual  conditions,  words  have  un- 
consciously been  spoken,  sometimes  seemingly 
meaningless,  but  sometimes  conveying  knowledge 
of  events  at  that  moment  taking  place  at  a  distance, 
sometimes  foretelling  future  events,  and  some- 
times words  of  warning,  instruction,  or  command. 

The  Egyptians  and  Assyrians  had  their  magi, 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  their  oracles,  the  Hebrews 
their  seers  and  prophets,  every  great  religion  its 
inspired  teachers,  and  every  savage  nation  had, 
under  some  name,  its  seer  or  medicine-man. 

Socrates  had  his  daemon,  Joan  of  Arc  her  voices 
and  visions,  the  Highlanders  their  second  sight, 
Spiritualists  their  mediums  and  "  controls."  Even 
Sitting  Bull  had  his  vision  in  which  he  foresaw  the 
approach  and  destruction  of  Custer's  army. 

Until  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago 
all  persons  affected  in  any  of  these  unusual  ways 
were  supposed  to  be  endowed  with  some  sort  of 
supernatural  power,  or  to  be  under  external  and 
supernatural  influence,  either  divine  or  satanic. 

About  1773  Mesmer,  an  educated  German  phy- 
sician, philosopher,  and  mystic,  commenced  the 
practice  of  curing  disease  by  means  of  magnets 
passed  over  the  affected  parts  and  over  the  body 
of  the  patient  from  head  to  foot.  Afterward  see- 
ing Gassner,  a  Swabian  priest,  curing  his  patients 


30       TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

by  command,  and  applying  his  hands  to  the  af- 
fected parts,  he  discarded  his  magnets,  concluding 
that  the  healing  power  or  influence  was  not  in 
them,  but  in  himself  ;  and  he  called  that  influence 
animal  magnetism. 

Mesmer  also  found  that  a  certain  proportion  of 
his  patients  went  into  a  sleep  more  or  less  pro- 
found under  his  manipulations,  during  which 
somnambulism,  or  sleep-walking,  appeared.  But 
Mesmer 's  chief  personal  interest  lay  in  certain 
theories  regarding  the  nature  of  the  newly-dis- 
covered power  or  agent,  and  in  its  therapeutic 
effects ;  his  theories,  however,  were  not  under- 
stood nor  appreciated  by  the  physicians  of  his 
time,  and  his  cures  were  looked  upon  by  them  as 
being  simply  quackery. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  he  who  first  took  the  whole 
subject  of  these  abnormal  or  supranormal  condi- 
tions out  of  the  domain  of  the  supernatural,  and 
in  attempting  to  show  their  relation  to  natural 
forces  he  placed  them  in  the  domain  of  nature  as 
proper  subjects  of  rational  study  and  investiga- 
tion ;  and  for  this,  at  least,  Mesmer  should  be 
honored. 

Under  Mesmer's  pupil,  the  Marquis  de  Puyse- 
gur,  the  facts  and  methods  relating  to  the  mag- 
netic  sleep  and  magnetic  cures  were  more  carefully 


THE  EARL  Y  MESMERISTS.  3 1 

observed  and  more  fully  published.  Then  fol- 
lowed Petetin,  Husson,  and  Dupotet,  Elliotson 
in  England  and  Esdaile  in  India.  So  from  Mes- 
mer  in  1773  to  Dupotet  and  Elliotson  in  1838  we 
have  the  period  of  the  "  early  mesmerists." 

During  this  period  the  hypnotic  sleep  was  in- 
duced by  means  of  passes,  the  operators  never  for 
a  moment  doubting  that  the  influence  which  pro- 
duced sleep  was  a  power  of  some  sort  proceeding 
from  themselves  and  producing  its  effect  upon  the 
patient. 

In  addition  to  the  condition  of  sleep  or  lethargy, 
the  following  conditions  were  well  known  to  the 
"  early  mesmerists "  ;  somnambulism,  or  sleep- 
walking, catalepsy,  anaesthesia,  and  amnesia,  or 
absence  of  all  knowledge  of  what  transpired  dur- 
ing the  sleep.  Suggestion  during  sleep  was  also 
made  use  of,  and  was  even  then  proposed  as  an 
agent  in  education  and  in  the  cure  of  vice. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  subject  in  1842, 
when  Braid,  an  English  surgeon,  made  some  new 
and  interesting  experiments.  He  showed  that 
the  so-called  mesmeric  sleep  could  be  produced 
in  some  patients  by  other  processes  than  those 
used  by  the  early  mesmerists ;  especially  could 
this  be  accomplished  by  having  the  patient  gaze 
steadily  at  a  fixed  brilliant  object  or  point,  with- 


32   TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

out  resorting  to  passes  or  manipulations  of  any 
kind. 

He  introduced  the  word  hypnotism,  which  has 
since  been  generally  adopted  ;  he  also  proposed 
some  new  theories  relating  to  the  nature  of  the 
hypnotic  sleep,  regarding  it  as  a  "  profound  nerv- 
ous change,"  and  he  still  further  developed  the 
idea  and  use  of  suggestion.  Otherwise  no  impor- 
tant changes  were  made  by  him  in  the  status  of 
the  subject.  It  was  not  looked  upon  with  favor 
by  the  profession  generally,  and  its  advocates 
were  for  the  most  part  still  considered  as  cranks 
and  persons  whose  scientific  and  professional 
standing  and  character  were  not  above  suspicion. 

The  period  of  twenty-five  years  from  1850  to 
1875,  was  a  sort  of  occultation  of  hypnotism. 
Braidism  suffered  nearly  the  same  fate  as  mes- 
merism— it  was  neglected  and  tabooed.  A  few 
capable  and  honest  men,  like  Li£beault  of  Nancy 
and  Azam  of  Bordeaux,  worked  on,  and  from  time 
to  time  published  their  observations ;  but  for  the 
most  part  these  workers  were  neglected  and  even 
scorned. 

To  acknowledge  one's  belief  in  animal  magnet- 
ism or  hypnotism  was  bad  form,  and  he  who  did 
it  must  be  content  to  suffer  a  certain  degree  of 
both  social  and  professional  ostracism.  The  field 


CHARCOT'S  EXPERIMENTS.  33 

was  given  over  to  town-hall  lectures  on  mesmer- 
ism, by  "  professors  "  whose  titles  were  printed  in 
quotation  marks  even  by  the  local  papers  which 
recorded  their  exploits. 

But  a  change  was  about  to  be  inaugurated.  In 
1877  Prof.  Charcot,  then  one  of  the  most  scientific, 
most  widely-known,  and  most  highly-esteemed  of 
living  physicians,  not  only  in  France  but  in  all  the 
world,  was  appointed,  with  two  colleagues,  to  in- 
vestigate the  treatment  of  hysteria  by  means  of 
metallic  disks — a  subject  which  was  then  attract- 
ing the  attention  of  the  medical  profession  in 
France. 

So,  curiously  enough,  it  happened  that  Charcot 
commenced  exactly  where  Mesmer  had  com- 
menced a  hundred  years  before.  He  experi- 
mented upon  hysterical  patients  in  his  wards  at 
La  Salpetriere,  and,  as  a  result,  he  rediscovered 
mesmerism  under  the  name  of  hypnotism,  just  a 
century  after  it  had  been  discovered  by  Mesmer 
and  disowned  by  the  French  Academy. 

But  Charcot,  after  having  satisfied  himself  by 
his  experiments,  did  not  hesitate  to  announce  his 
full  belief  in  the  facts  and  phenomena  of  hypnot- 
ism, and  that  was  sufficient  to  rehabilitate  the 
long-neglected  subject.  The  attention  of  the 

scientific  world  was  at  once  turned  toward  it,  it 
3 


34       TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

became  a  legitimate  subject  of  study,  and  hyp- 
notism at  once  became  respectable.  From  that 
time  to  the  present  it  has  formed  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  and  interesting  subjects  of  psychical 
study  ;  it  has  become  to  psychology  what  deter- 
mining the  value  of  a  single  character  is  to  read- 
ing an  ancient  inscription  in  a  lost  or  unknown 
language — it  is  a  bit  of  the  unknown  expressed 
in  terms  of  the  known  and  helps  to  furnish  clues 
to  still  greater  discoveries. 

With  the  scientific  interest  in  hypnotism  which 
was  brought  about  through  the  great  name  and 
influence  of  Charcot,  all  doubt  concerning  the 
reality  of  the  phenomena  which  it  presents  dis- 
appeared. Hypnotism  was  a  fact  and  had  come 
to  stay. 

Charcot,  who  conducted  his  experiments  chiefly 
among  nervous  or  hysterical  patients,  looked 
upon  the  hypnotic  condition  as  a  disease,  and  con- 
sidered the  phenomena  presented  by  hypnotic 
subjects  as  akin  to  hysteria.  In  addition  to  the 
method  of  producing  the  hypnotic  condition  used 
by  Braid,  he  used,  among  others,  what  he  called 
"  massive  stimulation,"  which  consisted  in  first 
fully  absorbing  the  subject's  attention  and  then 
producing  a  shock  by  the  loud  sounding  of  a  con- 
cealed gong,  or  the  sudden  display  or  sudden 


CHARCOT'S  APPROVAL  IMPORTANT.          35 

withdrawal  of  an  electric  light.  By  this  means 
hysterical  subjects  were  often  thrown  into  a  con- 
dition of  catalepsy,  from  which  somnambulism 
and  other  hypnotic  phenomena  were  sometimes 
deduced. 

I  have  myself  seen  nervous  patients  thrown 
into  the  cataleptic  state  by  the  "  massive  stimu- 
lation "  of  a  huge  truck  passing  by,  loaded  with 
clanging  rails  or  building  iron,  or  by  other  sudden 
shock,  but  I  did  not  consider  the  process  thera- 
peutic nor  in  any  way  useful  to  the  patient.  In- 
deed, I  have  considered  the  present  method  of 
transporting  those  beams  and  rails  of  iron  through 
our  streets  and  past  our  dwellings,  without  the 
slightest  attempt  to  modify  their  shocking  din 
and  clangor,  a  piece  of  savagery  which  should  at 
once  be  made  the  subject  of  special  legislation 
looking  to  the  prompt  punishment  of  the  perpe- 
trators of  the  outrage. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  neither  the  methods  em- 
ployed, the  psychical  conditions  induced,  nor  the 
therapeutic  effects  attained  at  La  Salpetriere, 
where  most  of  these  experiments  were  at  that 
time  carried  on,  were  such  as  to  particularly  com- 
mend themselves  to  students  of  psychology. 
Nevertheless  the  great  name  and  approval  of 
Charcot  served  to  command  for  hypnotism  the 


36        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

attention  and  the  favorable  consideration  of  the 
scientific  world. 

Soon  after  the  experiments  of  Charcot  and  his 
associates  in  Paris  were  published,  Prof.  Bern- 
heim  commenced  a  most  thorough  and  important 
study  of  the  subject  in  the  wards  of  the  hospital 
at  Nancy.  These  studies  were  made,  not  upon 
persons  who  were  already  subjects  of  nervous 
disease,  as  was  the  case  with  Charcot's  patients, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  upon  those  whose  nervous 
condition  was  perfectly  normal,  and  even  upon 
those  whose  general  health  was  perfect. 

The  result  of  Bernheim's  experiments  proved 
that  a  very  large  percentage  of  all  persons,  sick 
or  well,  could  be  put  into  the  hypnotic  condition. 
He  claimed  that  suggestion  was  the  great  factor 
and  influence,  both  in  bringing  about  the  condi- 
tion, and  also  in  the  mental  phenomena  observed, 
and  the  cures  which  were  accomplished. 

He  claimed,  moreover,  that  the  hypnotic  sleep 
did  not  differ  from  ordinary  sleep,  and  that  no 
magnetism  nor  other  personal  element,  influence, 
or  force  entered  in  any  way  into  the  process — 
it  was  all  the  power  and  influence  of  suggestion. 

Four  distinct  and  important  periods  then  are 
found  in  the  history  of  hypnotism  : 

First,  the  period   of  the  early  mesmerists,  ex- 


FOUR  IMPORTANT  PERIODS.  37 

tending  from  the  time  of  Mesmer,  1773,  until 
that  of  Braid,  1842 — nearly  seventy  years — during 
which  the  theory  of  animal  magnetism,  or  of 
some  actual  force  or  subtle  influence  proceeding 
from  the  operator  to  the  subject,  prevailed. 

Second,  the  period  of  thirty-five  years  during 
which  the  influence  of  Braid's  experiments  pre- 
dominated, showing  that  other  methods,  and 
especially  that  by  the  fixed  gaze,  were  efficient 
in  producing  the  hypnotic  sleep. 

Third,  the  short  period  during  which  the  in- 
fluence of  Charcot  and  the  Paris  school  pre- 
vailed. 

Fourth,  the  period  since  Bernheim  began  to 
publish  his  experiments,  and  which  may  be  called 
the  period  of  suggestion. 

With  this  brief  sketch  in  mind,  we  are  prepared 
to  examine  some  of  the  more  important  phenom- 
ena of  hypnotism,  both  in  its  early  and  its  later 
developments.  A  simple  case  would  be  as  fol- 
lows : — 

A  patient  comes  to  the  physician's  office  com- 
plaining of  continual  headaches,  general  debility, 
nervousness,  and  unsatisfactory  sleep.  She  is 
willing  to  be  hypnotized,  and  Is  accompanied  by 
a  friend.  The  physician  seats  her  comfortably  in 
a  chair,  and,  seating  himself  opposite  her,  he 


38        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

takes  her  thumbs  lightly  between  his  own  thumbs 
and  fingers,  asks  her  to  look  steadily  at  some  con- 
venient object — perhaps  a  shirt-stud  or  a  specified 
button  upon  his  coat.  Presently  her  eyelids 
quiver  and  then  droop  slowly  over  her  eyes  ;  he 
gently  closes  them  with  the  tips  of  his  fingers, 
holds  them  lightly  for  a  moment,  and  she  is 
asleep. 

He  then  makes  several  slow  passes  over  her 
face  and  down  the  front  of  her  body  from  head 
to  foot,  also  some  over  her  head  and  away  from 
it,  all  without  contact  and  without  speaking  to 
her.  He  lets  her  sleep  ten  or  fifteen  minutes — 
longer,  if  convenient — and  then,  making  two  or 
three  upward  passes  over  her  face,  he  says 
promptly  :  "  All  right ;  wake  up." 

She  slowly  opens  her  eyes,  probably  smiles,  and 
looks  a  little  foolish  at  having  slept.  He  inquires 
how  she  feels.  She  replies  : 

"  I  feel  remarkably  well — so  rested — as  though 
I  had  slept  a  whole  night." 

"  How  is  your  head  ?  " 

(Looking  surprised.)  "  It  is  quite  well — the  pain 
is  all  gone." 

"Very  well,"  he  says.  "You  will  continue  to 
feel  better  and  stronger,  and  you  will  have  good 
sleep  at  night." 


BERNffEIM'S  METHOD.  39 

And  so  it  proves.  Bernheim  or  a  pupil  of  his 
would  sit,  or  perhaps  stand,  near  his  patient,  and 
in  a  quiet  but  firm  voice  talk  of  sleep. 

"  Sleep  is  what  you  need.  Sleep  is  helpful  and 
will  do  you  good.  Already,  while  I  am  talking 
to  you,  you  are  beginning  to  feel  drowsy.  Your 
eyes  are  tired  ;  your  lids  are  drooping  ;  you  are 
growing  more  and  more  sleepy ;  your  lids  droop 
more  and  more." 

Then,  if  the  eyelids  seem  heavy,  he  presses 
them  down  over  the  eyes,  all  the  time  affirming 
sleep.  If  sleep  comes,  he  has  succeeded  ;  if  not, 
he  resorts  to  gestures,  passes,  the  steady  gaze,  or 
whatever  he  thinks  likely  to  aid  his  suggestion. 

When  the  patient  is  asleep  he  suggests  that 
when  she  awakes  her  pains  and  nervousness  will 
be  gone,  and  that  she  will  have  quiet  and  refresh- 
ing sleep  at  night.  What  is  the  condition  of  the 
patient  while  under  the  influence  of  this  induced 
sleep  ?  Pulse  and  respiration  are  little,  if  at  all, 
changed ;  they  may  be  slightly  accelerated  at  first, 
and  later,  if  very  deep  sleep  occurs,  they  may  be 
slightly  retarded.  Temperature  is  seldom  changed 
at  all,  though,  if  abnormally  high  before  the  sleep 
is  induced,  it  frequently  falls  during  the  sleep. 

If  the  hand  be  raised,  or  the  arm  be  drawn  up 
high  above  the  head,  generally  it  will  remain 


40        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

elevated  until  it  is  touched  and  replaced,  or  the 
patient  is  told  that  he  can  let  it  fall,  when  he 
slowly  lowers  it. 

In  many  cases  the  limbs  of  the  patient  may  be 
flexed  or  the  body  placed  in  any  position,  and 
that  position  will  be  retained  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  period,  sometimes  for  hours,  without 
change.  Sometimes  the  condition  is  one  of  rigid- 
ity so  firm  that  the  head  may  be  placed  upon 
one  chair  and  the  heels  upon  another,  and  the 
body  will  remain  stiff  like  a  bridge  from  one 
chair  to  the  other,  even  when  a  heavy  weight  is 
placed  upon  the  middle  of  the  patient's  body  or 
another  person  is  seated  upon  it.  This  is  the 
full  cataleptic  condition. 

Sometimes  the  whole  body  will  be  in  a  condition 
of  anaesthesia,  so  that  needles  may  be  thrust  deep 
into  the  flesh  without  evoking  any  sign  of  pain 
or  any  sensation  whatever.  Sometimes,  when 
this  condition  of  anaesthesia  does  not  appear  with 
the  sleep,  it  may  be  induced  by  passes,  or  by  sug- 
gesting that  a  certain  limb  or  the  whole  body 
is  without  feeling.  In  this  condition  the  most 
serious  surgical  operations  have  been  performed 
without  the  slightest  suffering  on  the  part  of  the 
patient. 

From  the  deep  sleep  the  patient  often  passes 


TWO  CHIEF  S  TA  GES  IN  HYPNO  TISM.          4 1 

of  his  own  accord  into  a  condition  in  which  he 
walks,  talks,  reads,  writes,  and  obeys  the  slightest 
wish  or  suggestion  of  the  hypnotizer — and  yet  he 
is  asleep.  This  is  called  the  alert  stage,  or  the 
condition  of  somnambulism,  and  is  the  most 
peculiar,  interesting,  and  wonderful  of  all. 

The  two  chief  stages  of  the  hypnotic  condition, 
then,  are,  first :  the  lethargic  stage ;  second,  the 
alert  stage. 

The  stage  of  lethargy  may  be  very  light — a 
mere  drowsiness — or  very  deep — a  heavy  slumber 
— and  it  is  often  accompanied  by  a  cataleptic 
state,  more  or  less  marked  in  degree. 

The  alert  stage  may  also  vary  and  may  be 
characterized  by  somnambulism,  varying  in  char- 
acter from  a  simple  sleepy  "  yes  "  or  "  no  "  in 
answer  to  questions  asked  by  his  hypnotizer,  to 
the  most  wonderful,  even  supranormal,  mental 
activity. 

From  any  of  these  states  the  subject  may  be 
awakened  by  his  hypnotizer  simply  making  a  few 
upward  passes  or  by  saying  in  a  firm  voice,  "  All 
right,  wake  up,"  or,  again,  by  affirming  to  the 
patient  that  he  will  awake  when  he  (the  hypno- 
tizer) has  counted  up  to  a  certain  number,  as,  for 
instance,  five. 

Generally,  upon  awakening,  the  subject  has  no 


42        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

knowledge  or  remembrance  of  anything  which 
has  transpired  during  his  hypnotic  condition. 
This  is  known  as  amnesia.  Sometimes,  however, 
a  hazy  recollection  of  what  has  happened  remains, 
especially  if  the  hypnotic  condition  has  been  only 
slight. 

Up  to  the  present  time  hypnotism  has  been 
studied  from  two  separate  and  important  stand- 
points and  for  two  well-defined  purposes  :  (i)  For 
its  therapeutic  effects,  or  its  use  in  the  treatment 
of  disease  and  relief  of  pain ;  (2)  for  the  mental 
or  psychical  phenomena  which  it  presents. 

The  following  cases  will  illustrate  its  study  and 
use  from  the  therapeutic  standpoint — and,  first, 
two  cases  treated  by  the  old  mesmerists,  1843- 
53.  They  are  from  reports  published  in  The 
Zoist  :— 

(i)  Q.  I.  P.,  a  well-known  artist,  fifty  years  ago, 
had  been  greatly  troubled  and  distressed  by  weak 
and  inflamed  eyes,  accompanied  by  ulceration  of 
the  cornea,  a  condition  which  had  lasted  more 
than  four  years.  He  was  never  free  from  the  dis- 
ease, and  often  it  was  so  severe  as  to  prevent 
work  in  his  studio,  and  especially  reading,  for 
months  at  a  time.  He  had  been  under  the  care 
of  the  best  oculists,  both  in  New  York  and  Lon- 
don, for  long  periods  and  at  different  times,  but 


CASES  TREATED  BY  EARLY  MESMERISTS.    43 

with  very  little  temporary  and  no  permanent  re- 
lief. 

He  was  urged,  as  a  last  resort,  to  try  animal 
magnetism,  as  it  was  then  called.  Accordingly, 
he  consulted  a  mesmeric  practitioner  in  London, 
and  was  treated  by  passes  made  over  the  back  of 
the  head  and  down  the  spine  and  from  the  centre 
of  the  forehead  backward  and  outward  over  the 
temples  and  down  the  sides  of  the  head. 

All  other  treatment  was  discontinued.  No  mes- 
meric phenomena  of  any  kind  were  produced,  not 
even  sleep,  but  from  the  first  day  a  degree  of 
comfort  and  also  improvement  was  experienced. 

The  treatment  was  given  one  hour  daily  for 
one  month.  The  improvement  was  decided  and 
uninterrupted,  such  as  had  never  before  been  ex- 
perienced under  any  form  of  medical  or  surgical 
treatment,  no  matter  how  thoroughly  carried  out. 
The  general  health  was  greatly  improved,  and  the 
eyes  were  so  much  benefited  that  they  could  be 
relied  upon  constantly,  both  for  painting  and 
reading,  and  the  cure  was  permanent. 

(2)  A  case  of  rheumatism  treated  by  Dr.  Elliot- 
son  of  London.  The  patient,  G.  F.,  age  thirty- 
five  years,  was  a  laborer,  and  had  suffered  from 
rheumatism  seven  weeks.  When  he  applied  to 
Dr.  Elliotson,  the  doctor  was  sitting  in  his  office, 


44       TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 

in  company  with  three  friends — one  a  medical 
gentleman,  and  all  skeptics  regarding  mesmerism. 

They  all,  however,  expressed  a  desire  to  see 
the  treatment,  and,  accordingly,  the  patient  was 
brought  in.  He  came  with  difficulty,  upon 
crutches,  his  face  betokening  extreme  pain.  He 
had  never  been  mesmerized. 

The  doctor  sat  down  opposite  his  patient,  took 
his  thumbs  in  his  hands,  and  gazed  steadily  in  his 
eyes.  In  twenty  minutes  he  fell  into  the  mes- 
meric sleep.  Several  of  the  mesmeric  phenomena 
were  then  produced  in  the  presence  of  his  skepti- 
cal friends,  after  which  he  was  allowed  to  sleep 
undisturbed  for  two  hours.  No  suggestions  re- 
garding his  disease  are  reported  as  having  been 
made  to  the  patient  during  his  sleep. 

He  was  awakened  by  reverse  passes.  Being 
fairly  aroused,  he  arose  from  his  chair,  walked  up 
and  down  the  room  without  difficulty,  and  was 
perfectly  unconscious  of  all  that  had  transpired 
during  his  sleep  ;  he  only  knew  he  came  into  the 
room  suffering,  and  on  crutches,  and  that  he  was 
now  free  from  pain  and  could  walk  with  ease 
without  them.  He  left  one  crutch  with  the  doc- 
tor and  went  out  twirling  the  other  in  his  hand. 
He  remained  perfectly  well. 

Dr.  Elliotson  afterward  tried  on  three  different 


CASE  TREATED  BY  HYPNOTISM.  45 

occasions  to  hypnotize  him  but  without  success. 
Others  also  tried,  but  all  attempts  in  this  direction 
failed. 

I  will  here  introduce  one  or  two  cases  from  my 
own  notebook: — 

(i)  A.  C,  a  young  girl  of  Irish  parentage, 
fifteen  years  old,  light  skin,  dark  hair  and  eyes, 
and  heavy  eyebrows.  Her  father  had  "  fits  "  for 
several  years  previous  to  his  death.  I  first  saw 
the  patient  Dec.  4,  1872;  this  was  five  years  be- 
fore Charcot's  experiments,  and  nearly  ten  years 
before  those  of  Bernheim. 

She  was  then  having  frequent  epileptic  attacks, 
characterized  by  sudden  loss  of  consciousness, 
convulsions,  foaming  at  the  mouth,  biting  the 
tongue,  and  dark  color.  She  had  her  first  attack 
six  months  before  I  saw  her,  and  they  had  in- 
creased in  frequency  and  in  severity  until  now 
they  occurred  twenty  or  more  times  a  day,  some- 
times lasting  many  minutes,  and  sometimes  only 
a  few  seconds ;  sometimes  they  were  of  very  great 
severity. 

She  had  received  many  falls,  burns,  and  bruises 
in  consequence  of  their  sudden  accession.  They 
occurred  both  day  and  night.  On  my  second  visit 
I  determined  to  try  hypnotism.  Patient  went  to 
sleep  in  eight  minutes,  slept  a  short  time  and 


46        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

awoke  without  interference.  She  was  imme- 
diately put  to  sleep  again ;  she  slept  only  a  few 
minutes,  and  again  awoke. 

DEC.  7. — Her  friends  report  that  the  attacks 
have  not  been  so  frequent  and  not  nearly  so  vio- 
lent since  my  last  visit.  Hypnotized ;  patient 
went  into  a  profound  sleep  and  remained  one 
hour ;  she  was  then  awakened  by  reverse  passes. 

DEC.  8. — The  attacks  have  been  still  less  fre- 
quent and  severe  ;  she  has  slept  quietly ;  appetite 
good.  Hypnotized  and  allowed  her  to  sleep  two 
hours,  and  then  awoke  her  by  the  upward  passes. 

DEC.  9. — There  has  been  still  more  marked  im- 
provement ;  the  attacks  have  been  very  few,  none 
lasting  more  than  half  a  minute.  Hypnotized 
and  allowed  her  to  remain  asleep  three  hours. 
Awoke  her  with  some  difficulty,  and  she  was  still 
somewhat  drowsy  when  I  left.  She  went  to  sleep 
in  the  afternoon  and  slept  soundly  four  hours; 
awoke  and  ate  her  supper ;  went  to  sleep  again 
and  slept  soundly  all  night. 

DEC.  10. — There  has  been  no  return  of  the  at- 
tacks. A  month  later  she  had  had  no  return  of 
the  attacks.  She  soon  after  left  town,  and  I  have 
not  heard  of  her  since.  In  this  case  no  sugges- 
tions whatever  were  made. 

(2)  B.  X.,  twenty-four  years  of  age,  a  sporting 


ALCHHOLISM—  HYPNOTIC  SUGGESTION.       47 

man  ;  obstinate,  independent,  self-willed,  a  leader 
in  his  circle.  He  had  been  a  hard  drinker  from 
boyhood.  He  had  been  injured  by  a  fall  three 
years  before,  and  had  been  subject  to  severe 
attacks  of  haematemesis.  I  had  known  him  for 
three  or  four  months  previous  to  June,  1891.  At 
that  time  he  came  into  my  office  one  evening 
somewhat  under  the  influence  of  alcoholic  stimu- 
lants. After  talking  a  few  moments,  I  advised 
him  to  lie  down  on  the  lounge.  I  made  no  re- 
marks about  his  drinking,  nor  about  sleep.  I 
simply  took  his  two  thumbs  in  my  hands  and  sat 
quietly  beside  him.  Presently  I  made  a  few  long 
passes  from  head  to  feet,  and  in  five  minutes  he 
was  fast  asleep. 

His  hands  and  arms,  outstretched  and  raised 
high  up,  remained  exactly  as  they  were  placed. 
Severe  pinching  elicited  no  sign  of  sensation. 
He  was  in  the  deep  hypnotic  sleep. 

I  then  spoke  to  him  in  a  distinct  and  decided 
manner.  I  told  him  he  was  ruining  his  life  and 
making  his  family  very  unhappy  by  his  habit  of 
intemperance.  I  then  told  him  very  decidedly 
that  when  he  awoke  he  would  have  no  more  de- 
sire for  alcoholic  stimulants  of  any  kind  ;  that  he 
would  look  upon  them  all  as  his  enemies,  and  he 
would  refuse  them  under  all  circumstances ;  that 


48        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 

even  the  smell  of  them  would  be  disagreeable  to 
him.  I  repeated  the  suggestions  and  then  awoke 
him  by  making  a  few  passes  upward  over  his  face, 
I  did  not  inform  him  that  I  had  hypnotized  him, 
nor  speak  to  him  at  all  about  his  habit  of  drink- 
ing. I  prescribed  for  some  ailment  for  which  he 
had  visited  me  and  he  went  away. 

I  neither  saw  nor  heard  from  him  again  for 
three  months,  when  I  received  a  letter  from  him 
from  a  distant  city,  informing  me  that  he  had  not 
drank  a  drop  of  spirituous  liquor  since  he  was  in 
my  office  that  night.  His  health  was  perfect, 
and  he  had  no  more  vomiting  of  blood. 

June,  1892,  one  year  from  the  time  I  had 
hypnotized  him,  he  came  into  my  office  in 
splendid  condition.  He  had  drank  nothing  dur- 
ing the  whole  year.  I  have  not  heard  from  him 
since. 

The  following  case  illustrates  Bernheim's 
method : — 

Mile.  J.,  teacher,  thirty-two  years  old,  came  to 
the  clinique,  Feb.  17,  1887,  for  chorea,  or  St. 
Vitus's  dance.  Nearly  two  weeks  previous  she 
had  been  roughly  reprimanded  by  her  superior 
which  had  greatly  affected  her.  She  could  scarcely 
sleep  or  eat ;  she  had  nausea,  pricking  sensations 
in  both  arms,  delirium  at  times,  and  now  inces- 


BERNHEIM  'S  ME  THOD  ILL  US  TRA  TED.        49 

sant  movements,  sometimes  as  frequent  as  two 
every  second,  in  both  the  right  arm  and  leg. 

She  can  neither  write  nor  attend  to  her  school 
duties.  Bernheim  hypnotizes  her  by  his  method. 
She  goes  easily  into  the  somnambulic  condition. 
In  three  or  four  minutes,  under  the  influence  of 
suggestion,  the  movements  of  the  hand  and  foot 
cease  ;  upon  waking  up,  they  reappear,  but  less 
frequently.  A  second  hypnotization,  with  sug- 
gestion, checks  them  completely. 

FEB.  i Qth. — Says  she  has  been  very  comfortable  ; 
the  pricking  sensations  have  ceased.  No  nervous 
movements  until  nine  o'clock  this  morning,  when 
they  returned,  about  ten  or  eleven  every  minute. 
New  hypnotization  and  suggestion,  during  which 
the  motions  cease,  and  they  remain  absent  when 
she  wakes. 

2 1  st. — Has  had  slight  pains  and  a  few  choraic 
movements. 

25th. — Is  doing  well ;  has  no  movements  ;  says 
she  is  cured. 

She  returned  a  few  times  during  the  next  four 
months  with  slight  nervous  movements,  which 
were  promptly  relieved  by  hypnotizing  and  sug- 
gestion. 

Bernheim,  in  his  book,  "  Suggestive  Therapeu- 
tics," gives  details  of  over  one  hundred  cases, 


50        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

mostly  neuralgic  and  rheumatic,  most  of  which 
are  described  as  cured,  either  quickly  or  by  re- 
peated hypnotization  and  suggestion. 

The  Zoist,  a  journal  devoted  to  psychology  and 
mesmerism  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  gives  several 
hundred  cases  of  treatment  and  cure  by  the  early 
mesmerists,  some  of  them  very  remarkable,  and 
also  many  cases  of  surgical  operations  of  the  most 
severe  or  dangerous  character  painlessly  done 
under  the  anaesthetic  influence  of  mesmerism  be- 
fore the  benign  effects  of  ether  or  chloroform  were 
known.  These  cases  are  not  often  referred  to  by 
the  modern  student  of  hypnotism.  Nevertheless, 
they  constitute  a  storehouse  of  well-observed 
facts  which  have  an  immense  interest  and  value. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  throughout  the  whole 
history  of  hypnotism,  under  whatever  name  it 
has  been  studied,  one  of  its  chief  features  has 
been  its  power  to  relieve  suffering  and  cure 
disease  ;  and  at  the  present  day,  while  many  phy- 
sicians who  are  quite  ignorant  of  its  uses,  in  gen- 
eral terms  deny  its  practicability,  few  who  have 
any  real  knowledge  of  it  are  so  unjust  or  regard- 
less of  facts  as  to  deny  its  therapeutic  effects. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HYPNOTISM — PSYCHICAL    ASPECT. 

As  before  remarked  the  phenomena  of  hypnot- 
ism may  be  viewed  from  two  distinct  standpoints 
— one,  that  from  which  the  physical  and  espe- 
cially the  therapeutic  features  are  most  prominent, 
the  standpoint  from  which  we  have  already  viewed 
the  subject ;  the  other  is  the  psychical  or  mental 
aspect,  which  presents  phenomena  no  less  strik- 
ing, and  is  the  one  which  is  especially  attractive 
to  the  most  earnest  students  of  psychology. 

The  hypnotic  condition  has  been  variously 
divided  and  subdivided  by  different  students  and 
different  writers  upon  the  subject;  Charicot,  for 
instance,  makes  three  distinct  states,  which  he 
designates  (i)  catalepsy,  (2)  lethargy,  and  (3)  som- 
nambulism, while  Bernheim  proposes  five  states, 
or,  as  he  designates  them,  degrees  of  hypnotism, 
namely,  (i)  sleepiness,  (2)  light  sleep,  (3)  deep 
Bleep,  (4)  very  deep  sleep,  (5)  somnambulism. 

All  these  divisions  are  arbitrary  and  unnatural ; 

51 


52        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Bernheim's  five  degrees  have  no  definite  limit  or 
line  of  separation  one  from  the  other,  and  Char- 
cot's  condition  of  catalepsy  is  only  lethargy  or 
sleep  in  which  the  subject  may,  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  maintain  the  position  in  which  he  is 
placed  by  his  hypnotizer. 

There  are,  however,  as  already  stated,  two  dis- 
tinct and  definite  conditions,  namely,  (i)  lethargy, 
or  the  inactive  stage,  and  (2)  somnambulism,  or 
the  alert  stage,  and  if,  in  examining  the  subject, 
we  make  this  simple  division,  we  shall  free  it  from 
much  confusion  and  unnecessary  verbiage. 

When  a  subject  is  hypnotized  by  any  soothing 
process,  he  first  experiences  a  sensation  of  drowsi- 
ness, and  then  in  a  space  of  time,  usually  varying 
from  two  to  twenty  minutes,  he  falls  into  a  more 
or  less  profound  slumber.  His  breathing  is  full 
and  quiet,  his  pulse  normal ;  he  is  unconscious  of 
his  surroundings  ;  or  possibly  he  may  be  quiet, 
restful,  indisposed  to  move,  but  having  a  con- 
sciousness, probably  dim  and  imperfect,  of  what  is 
going  on  about  him. 

This  is  the  condition  of  lethargy,  and  in  it  most 
subjects,  but  not  all,  retain  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree  whatever  position  the  hypnotizer  imposes 
upon  them  ;  they  sleep  on,  often  maintaining 
what,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  be  a 


THE  ALERT  STAGE  OF  HYPNOTISM.  53 

most  uncomfortable  position,  for  hours,  motion- 
less as  a  statue  of  bronze  or  stone. 

If,  now,  he  speaks  of  his  own  accord,  or  his 
magnetizer  speaks  to  him  and  he  replies,  he  is  in 
the  somnambulic  or  alert  stage.  He  may  open 
his  eyes,  talk  in  a  clear  and  animated  manner ;  he 
may  walk  about,  and  show  even  more  intellectual 
acuteness  and  physical  activity  than  when  in  his 
normal  state,  or  he  may  merely  nod  assent  or 
answer  slowly  to  his  hypnotizer's  questions ; 
still,  he  is  in  the  somnambulic  or  alert  stage  of 
hypnotism. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  phenomena 
which  have  been  observed  in  this  stage.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  rehearse  the  stock  performances  of 
lecture-room  hypnotists.  While  under  the  influ- 
ence of  hypnotic  suggestion  a  lad,  for  instance,  is 
made  to  go  through  the  pantomime  of  fishing  in 
an  imaginary  brook,  a  dignified  man  to  canter 
around  the  stage  on  all  fours,  under  the  impres- 
sion that  he  is  a  pony,  or  watch  an  imaginary 
mouse-hole  in  the  most  alert  and  interested  man- 
ner while  believing  himself  a  cat ;  or  the  subject 
is  made  to  take  castor  oil  with  every  expression 
of  delight,  or  reject  the  choicest  wines  with  dis- 
gust, believing  them  to  be  nauseous  drugs,  or 
stagger  with  drunkenness  under  the  influence 


54        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

of  a  glass  of  pure  water,  supposed  to  be 
whisky. 

All  these  things  have  been  done  over  and  over 
for  the  last  forty  years,  and  people  have  not 
known  whether  to  consider  them  a  species  of 
necromancy  or  well-practiced  tricks,  in  which  the 
performers  were  accomplices,  or,  perhaps,  a  few 
more  thoughtful  and  better-instructed  people 
have  looked  upon  them  as  involving  psychological 
problems  of  the  greatest  interest,  which  might 
some  day  strongly  influence  all  our  systems  of 
mental  philosophy. 

But  whether  done  by  the  mesmerist  of  forty 
years  ago  or  the  hypnotist  of  the  past  decade, 
they  were  identical  in  character,  and  were  simply 
genuine  examples  of  the  great  power  of  sugges- 
tion when  applied  to  persons  under  the  mesmeric 
or  hypnotic  influence.  Such  exhibitions,  however, 
are  unnecessary  and  undignified,  if  not  positively 
degrading,  to  both  subject  and  operator,  whether 
given  by  the  self-styled  professor  of  the  town-hall 
platform  or  the  aspiring  clinical  professor  of  nerv- 
ous diseases  before  his  packed  amphitheatre  of 
admiring  students. 

One  of  the  most  singular  as  well  as  important 
points  in  connection  with  hypnotism  is  the  rap- 
port or  relationship  which  exists  between  the  hyp- 


RAPPORT.  55 

notizer  and  the  hypnotized  subject.  The  manner 
in  which  the  hypnotic  sleep  is  induced  is  of  little 
importance.  The  important  thing,  if  results  of 
any  kind  are  to  be  obtained,  is  that  rapport  should 
be  established. 

This  relationship  is  exhibited  in  various  ways. 
Generally,  while  in  the  hypnotic  state,  the  subject 
hears  no  voice  but  that  of  his  hypnotizer ;  he  does 
no  bidding  but  his,  he  receives  no  suggestions  but 
from  him,  and  no  one  else  can  awaken  him  from 
his  sleep. 

If  another  person  interferes,  trying  to  impose 
his  influence  upon  the  sleeping  subject,  or  attempts 
to  waken  him,  distressing  and  even  alarming  re- 
sults may  appear.  The  degree  to  which  this  rap- 
port exists  varies  greatly  in  different  cases,  but 
almost  always,  perhaps  we  should  say  always,  the 
condition  exists  in  some  degree.  In  some  rare 
cases  this  rapport  is  of  a  still  higher  and  more 
startling  character,  exhibiting  phenomena  so  con- 
trary to,  or  rather,  so  far  exceeding,  our  usual  ex- 
perience as  to  be  a  surprise  to  all  and  a  puzzle  to 
the  wisest. 

One  of  these  curious  phenomena  is  well  ex- 
hibited in  what  is  known  as  community  of  sensa- 
tion, or  the  perception  by  the  subject  of  sensa- 
tions experienced  by  the  operator.  The  follow- 


56        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

ing  experiment,  observed  by  Mr.  Gurney  and  Dr. 
Myers  of  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  will 
illustrate  this  phase  of  the  subject. 

The  sensitive  in  this  experiment  is  designated 
as  Mr.  C,  and  the  operator  as  Mr.  S.  There  was 
no  contact  or  any  communication  whatsoever  of 
the  ordinary  kind  between  them.  C.  was  hypno- 
tized, but  was  not  informed  of  the  nature  of  the 
experiment  which  was  to  be  tried.  The  operator 
stood  behind  the  hypnotized  subject,  and  Mr. 
Gurney,  standing  behind  the  operator,  handed 
him  the  different  substances  to  be  used  in  the  ex- 
periment, and  he,  in  turn,  placed  them  in  his  own 
mouth. 

Salt  was  first  so  tasted  by  the  operator,  where- 
upon the  subject,  C.,  instantly  and  loudly  cried 
out:  "  What's  that  salt  stuff?"  Sugar  was  given. 
C.  replied,  "  Sweeter ;  not  so  bad  as  before." 
Powdered  ginger ;  reply,  "  Hot,  dries  up  your 
mouth  ;  reminds  me  of  mustard."  Sugar  given 
again  ;  reply,  "  A  little  better — a  sweetish  taste." 
Other  substances  were  tried,  with  similar  results, 
the  last  one  tasted  being  vinegar,  when  it  was 
found  that  C.  had  fallen  into  the  deeper  lethargic 
condition  and  made  no  reply. 

Another  experiment  is  reported  by  Dr.  William 
A.  Hammond  of  Washington.  The  doctor  said  : 


RAPPORT  AT  A  DISTANCE.  57 

"  A  most  remarkable  fact  is,  that  some  few  sub- 
jects of  hypnotism  experience  sensations  from  im- 
pressions made  upon  the  hypnotizer.  Thus,  there 
is  a  subject  upon  whom  I  sometimes  operate  whom 
I  can  shut  up  in  a  room  with  an  observer,  while  I 
go  into  another  closed  room  at  a  distance  of  one 
hundred  feet  or  more  with  another  observer.  This 
one,  for  instance,  scratches  my  hand  with  a  pin, 
and  instantly  the  hypnotized  subject  rubs  his  cor- 
responding hand,  and  says,  '  Don't  scratch  my 
hand  so  ; '  or  my  hair  is  pulled,  and  immediately 
he  puts  his  hand  to  his  head  and  says,  '  Don't 
pull  my  hair ; '  and  so  on,  feeling  every  sensation 
that  I  experience." 

This  experiment,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  is 
conducted  in  closed  rooms  a  hundred  feet  apart, 
and  through  at  least  two  partitions  or  closed 
doors,  and  over  that  distance  and  through  these 
intervening  obstacles  peculiar  and  definite  sensa- 
tions experienced  by  one  person  are  perceived  and 
definitely  described  by  another  person,  no  or- 
dinary means  of  communication  existing  between 
them.  This  is  an  example  of  the  rapport  existing 
between  the  operator  and  hypnotized  subject  car- 
ried to  an  unusual  degree. 

The  following  experiments  are  examples  of  hyp- 
notizing at  a  distance,  or  telepathic  hypnotism, 


58        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

and  while  illustrating  still  further  the  rapport,  or 
curious  relationship,  existing  between  hypnotizer 
and  subject,  are  also  illustrations  of  the  rarer 
psychic  phenomena  of  hypnotism. 

The  first  series  of  experiments  is  given  by  Prof. 
Pierre  Janet  of  Havre  and  Dr.  Gibert,  a  prominent 
physician  of  the  same  city.  The  subject  was 
Mme.  B.,  a  heavy,  rather  stolid,  middle-aged  peas- 
ant woman,  without  any  ambition  for  notoriety, 
or  to  be  known  as  a  sensitive ;  on  the  contrary, 
she  disliked  it,  and  the  experiments  were  disagree- 
able to  her.  She  was,  however  an  excellent  ex- 
ample of  close  rapport  with  her  hypnotizer. 

While  in  the  deep  sleep,  and  perfectly  insen- 
sible to  ordinary  stimuli,  however  violent,  contact, 
or  even  the  proximity  of  her  hypnotizer's  hand, 
caused  contractures,  which  a  light  touch  from  him 
would  also  remove.  No  one  else  could  produce 
the  slightest  effect.  After  about  ten  minutes  in 
this  deep  trance  she  usually  passed  into  the  alert, 
or  somnambulic  stage,  from  which  also  no  one  but 
the  operator  could  arouse  her.  Hypnotization 
was  difficult  or  impossible  unless  the  operator  con- 
centrated his  thoughts  upon  the  desired  result, 
but  by  simply  willing,  without  passes  or  any  phys- 
ical means  whatsoever,  the  hypnotic  condition 
Could  be  quickly  induced. 


HYPNOT1ZA  TION  AT  A  DISTANCE.  59 

Various  experiments  in  simply  willing  post-hyp- 
notic acts,  without  suggestion  through  any  of  the 
ordinary  channels  of  communication,  were  also 
perfectly  successful.  Dr.  Gibert  then  made  three 
experiments  in  putting  this  subject  to  sleep  when 
she  was  in  another  part  of  the  town,  a  third  of  a 
mile  away  from  the  operator,  and  at  a  time  fixed 
by  a  third  person,  the  experiment  also  being 
wholly  unexpected  by  the  subject. 

On  two  of  these  occasions  Prof.  Janet  found  the 
subject  in  a  deep  trance  ten  minutes  after  the 
willing  to  sleep,  and  no  one  but  Dr.  Gibert,  who 
had  put  her  to  sleep,  could  rouse  her.  In  the 
third  experiment  the  subject  experienced  the 
hypnotic  influence  and  desire  to  sleep,  but  resisted 
it  and  kept  herself  awake  by  washing  her  hands  in 
cold  water. 

During  a  second  series  of  experiments  made 
with  the  same  subject,  several  members  of  the  So- 
ciety for  Psychical  Research  were  present  and  took 
an  active  part  in  them.  Apart  from  trials  made 
in  the  same  or  an  adjoining  room,  twenty-one 
experiments  were  made  when  the  subject  was  at 
distances  varying  from  one-half  to  three-fourths 
of  a  mile  away  from  her  hypnotizer.  Of  these, 
six  were  reckoned  as  failures,  or  only  partial  suc- 
cesses ;  there  remained,  then,  fifteen  perfect  sue- 


60        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

cesses  in  which  the  subject,  Mme.  B.,  was  found 
entranced  fifteen  minutes  after  the  willing  or 
mental  suggestion.  During  one  of  these  experi- 
ments, the  subject  was  willed  by  Dr.  Gibert  to 
come  through  several  intervening  streets  to  him 
at  his  own  house,  which  she  accomplished  in  the 
somnambulic  condition,  and  under  the  observa- 
tion of  Prof.  Janet  and  several  other  physicians. 

Another  series  of  experiments  was  made  with 
another  subject  by  Dr.  Hericourt,  one  of  Prof. 
Richet's  coadjutors.  The  experiments  included 
the  gradual  extension  of  the  distance  through 
which  the  willing  power  was  successful,  first  to 
another  room,  then  to  another  street,  and  a  distant 
part  of  the  city. 

One  day,  while  attempting  to  hypnotize  her  in 
another  street,  three  hundred  yards  distant,  at  3 
o'clock  P.  M.,  he  was  suddenly  called  away  to  attend 
a  patient,  and  forgot  all  about  his  hypnotic  subject. 
Afterward  he  remembered  that  he  was  to  meet 
her  at  4 :  30,  and  went  to  keep  his  appointment. 
But  not  finding  her,  he  thought  possibly  the  ex- 
periment, which  had  been  interrupted  might, 
after  all,  have  proved  successful.  Upon  this  sup- 
position, at  5  o'clock  he  willed  her  to  awake. 

That  evening,  without  being  questioned  at  all, 
she  gave  the  following  account  of  herself:  At 


POST-HYPNOTIC  SUGGESTIONS.  61 

3  P.  M.  she  was  overcome  by  an  irresistible  desire 
to  sleep,  a  most  unusual  thing  for  her  at  that  hour. 
She  went  into  an  adjoining  room,  fell  insensible 
upon  a  sofa,  where  she  was  afterward  found  by 
her  servant,  cold  and  motionless,  as  if  dead. 

Attempts  on  the  part  of  the  servant  to  rouse 
her  proved  ineffectual,  but  gave  her  great  distress. 
She  woke  spontaneously  and  free  from  pain  at  5 
o'clock. 

By  no  means  the  least  interesting  of  the  higher 
phenomena  of  hypnotism  are  post-hypnotic  sug- 
gestions, or  the  fulfilment  after  waking  of  sug- 
gestions impressed  upon  the  subject  when  asleep. 

A  few  summers  ago  at  a  little  gathering  of  in- 
telligent people,  much  interest  was  manifested 
and  a  general  desire  to  see  some  hypnotic  experi- 
ments. Accordingly,  one  of  the  ladies  whose  good 
sense  and  good  faith  could  not  be  doubted,  was 
hypnotized  and  put  into  the  condition  of  pro- 
found lethargy.  After  a  few  slight  experiments, 
exhibiting  anaesthesia,  hallucinations  of  taste, 
plastic  pose,  and  the  like,  I  said  to  her  in  a  de- 
cided manner: 

"  Now  I  am  about  to  waken  you.  I  will  count 
five,  and  when  I  say  the  word  'five'  you  will 
promptly,  but  quietly  and  without  any  excite- 
ment, awake.  Your  mind  will  be  perfectly  clear, 


62        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

and  you  will  feel  rested  and  refreshed  by  your 
sleep.  Presently  you  will  approach  Mrs.  O.,  and 
will  be  attracted  by  the  beautiful  shell  comb 
which  she  wears  in  her  hair,  and  you  will  ask  her 
to  permit  you  to  examine  it." 

I  then  commenced  counting  slowly,  and  at  the 
word  "  five "  she  awoke,  opened  her  eyes 
promptly,  looked  bright  and  happy,  and  expressed 
herself  as  feeling  comfortable  and  greatly  rested, 
as  though  she  had  slept  through  a  whole  night. 
She  rose  from  her  chair,  mingled  with  the  com- 
pany, and  presently  approaching  Mrs.  O.,  ex- 
claimed : 

"  What  a  beautiful  comb  !  Please  allow  me  to 
examine  it." 

And  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  she  placed 
her  hand  lightly  on  the  lady's  head,  examined  the 
comb,  and  expressed  great  admiration  for  it ;  in 
short,  she  fulfilled  with  great  exactness  the  whole 
suggestion. 

She  was  perfectly  unconscious  that  any  sugges- 
tion had  been  made  to  her ;  she  was  greatly  sur- 
prised to  see  that  she  was  the  centre  of  observa- 
tion, and  especially  at  the  ripple  of  laughter 
which  greeted  her  admiration  of  the  comb. 

To  another  young  lady,  hypnotized  in  like  man- 
ner, I  suggested  that  on  awaking  she  should 


FULFILLED  AFTER  SIXTY-THREE  DAYS,       63 

approach  the  young  daughter  of  our  hostess,  who 
was  present,  holding  a  favorite  kitten  in  her  arms, 
and  should  say  to  her,  "  What  a  pretty  kitten 
you  have !  What  is  her  name  ?  " 

The  suggestion  was  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  It 
was  only  afterward  that  I  learned  that  this  young 
lady  had  a  very  decided  aversion  to  cats,  and 
always  avoided  them  if  possible. 

Suggestions  for  post-hypnotic  fulfilment  are 
sometimes  carried  out  after  a  considerable  time 
has  elapsed,  and  upon  the  precise  day  suggested. 

Bernheim,  in  August,  1883,  suggested  to  S.,  an 
old  soldier,  while  in  the  hypnotic  sleep,  that  upon 
the  3d  of  October  following,  sixty-three  days  after 
the  suggestion,  he  should  go  to  Dr.  Liebeault 's 
house ;  that  he  would  there  see  the  President  of 
the  Republic,  who  would  give  to  him  a  medal. 

Promptly  on  the  day  designated  he  went.  Dr. 
Liebeault  states  that  S.  came  at  12 :  50  o'clock; 
he  greeted  M.  F.,  who  met  him  at  the  door  as  he 
came  in,  and  then  went  to  the  left  side  of  the 
office  without  paying  any  attention  to  any  one. 
Dr.  Liebeault  continues: — 

"  I  saw  him  bow  respectfully  and  heard  him 
speak  the  word  '  Excellence.'  Just  then  he  held 
out  his  right  hand,  and  said,  '  Thank  your  Excel- 
lence.' Then  I  asked  him  to  whom  he  was 


64       TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

speaking.  'Why,  to  the  President  of  the  Repub- 
lic.' He  then  bowed,  and  a  few  minutes  later 
took  his  departure." 

A  patient  of  my  own,  a  young  man  with  whom  I 
occasionally  experiment,  exhibits  some  of  the  dif- 
ferent phases  and  phenomena  of  hypnotism  in  a 
remarkable  manner.  He  goes  quickly  into  the 
stage  of  profound  lethargy;  after  allowing  him 
to  sleep  a  few  moments,  I  say  to  him :  "  Now  you 
can  open  your  eyes  and  you  can  see  and  talk  with 
me,  but  you  are  still  asleep,  and  you  will  remem- 
ber nothing." 

He  opens  his  eyes  at  once,  smiles,  gets  up  and 
walks,  and  chats  in  a  lively  manner.  If  I  say : 
"  Now  you  are  in  the  deep  sleep  again,"  and  pass 
my  hand  downward  before  his  eyes,  immediately 
his  eyes  close  and  he  is  in  a  profound  slumber. 
If  five  seconds  later  I  again  say,  "  Now  you  can 
open  your  eyes,"  he  is  again  immediately  in  the 
alert  stage. 

For  experiment  I  then  take  half  a  dozen  plain 
blank  cards,  exactly  alike,  and  in  one  corner  of 
one  of  the  cards  I  put  a  minute  dot,  so  that  upon 
close  inspection  it  can  be  recognized.  Holding 
these  in  my  hand,  I  say  to  him  : 

"  Here  are  six  cards  ;  five  of  them  are  blank, 
but  this  one  (the  one  I  have  marked,  he  only  see- 


A  SUGGESTED  PHOTOGRAPH.  65 

ing  the  plain  side)  has  a  picture  of  myself  upon 
it.  It  is  a  particularly  good  picture,  and  I  have 
had  it  prepared  specially  for  this  occasion.  Do 
you  see  the  picture  ?  " 

"Of  course  I  do,"  he  replies.  "What  do  you 
think  of  it  ?  "  I  ask  him.  He  looks  at  me  care- 
fully and  compares  my  face  with  the  suggested 
picture  on  the  card  and  replies,  "  It  is  excellent." 

"  Very  well,  give  me  the  cards." 

He  hands  them  to  me  and  I  shuffle  and  dis- 
arrange them  as  much  as  possible.  I  then  show 
them  to  him,  holding  them  in  my  hand,  and  say: 

"  Now  show  me  the  card  which  has  my  picture 
upon  it." 

He  selects  it  at  once.  I  only  know  it  is  cor- 
rect by  looking  for  the  dot  upon  the  back,  which 
has  all  the  while  been  kept  carefully  concealed 
from  him. 

I  then  say  to  him  :  "  Now,  I  am  going  to 
awaken  you,  and  when  awake  you  will  come  to 
the  desk,  select  from  the  cards  which  I  now  place 
there  the  one  which  has  my  picture,  and  show 
it  to  me." 

He  awakes  at  my  counting  when  I  reach  the 
word  five,  as  I  have  suggested  to  him.  He  re- 
members nothing  of  what  has  passed  since  he 
was  hypnotized,  but  thinks  he  has  had  a  long  and 


66   TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

delightful  sleep.  I  sit  at  my  desk ;  he  walks  up 
to  it,  examines  the  six  cards  which  are  lying 
there,  selects  one,  and  showing  it  to  me,  remarks, 
"  There  is  your  picture."  It  was  the  same 
marked  card. 

On  another  occasion,  while  he  was  asleep  and 
in  the  alert  stage,  Mrs.  M.  was  present.  I  intro- 
duced her,  and  he  spoke  to  her  with  perfect  pro- 
priety. Afterward  I  said :  "  Now,  I  will  awake 
you,  but  you  will  only  see  me.  Mrs.  M.  you  will 
not  see  at  all." 

I  then  awoke  him,  as  usual.  He  commenced 
talking  to  me  in  a  perfectly  natural  and  unre- 
strained manner.  Mrs.  M.  stood  by  my  side  be- 
tween him  and  myself,  but  he  paid  not  the 
slightest  attention  to  her ;  she  then  withdrew,  and 
I  remarked  indifferently  : 

"  Wasn't  it  a  little  peculiar  of  you  not  to  speak 
to  Mrs.  M.  before  she  went  out?" 

"  Speak  to  Mrs.  M  ! "  he  exclaimed,  with  evident 
surprise.  "  I  did  not  know  she  had  been  in  the 
room." 

One  day  when  Drs.  Liebeault  and  Bernheim 
were  together  at  their  clinic  at  the  hospital,  Dr. 
Liebeault  suggested  to  a  hypnotized  patient  that 
when  she  awoke  she  would  no  longer  see  Dr. 
Bernheim,  but  that  she  would  recognize  his  hat, 


NE  GA  TIVE  SUG  GES  TION.  67 

would  put  it  on  her  head,  and  offer  to  take  it  to 
him. 

When  she  awoke,  Dr.  Bernheim  was  standing 
in  front  of  her.  She  was  asked  :  "  Where  is  Dr. 
Bernheim  ? "  She  replied :  "  He  is  gone,  but 
here  is  his  hat." 

Dr.  Bernheim  then  said  to  her,  "  Here  I  am, 
madam  ;  I  am  not  gone,  you  recognize  me,  per- 
fectly." 

She  was  silent,  taking  not  the  slightest  notice 
of  him.  Some  one  else  addressed  her ;  she  re- 
plied with  perfect  propriety.  Finally,  when 
about  to  go  out  she  took  up  Dr.  Bernheim's 
hat,  put  it  on  her  head,  saying  she  would  take 
it  to  him ;  but  to  her  Dr.  Bernheim  was  not 
present. 

To  the  number  of  curious  phenomena,  both 
physical  and  mental,  connected  with  hypnotism, 
it  is  difficult  to  find  a  limit ;  a  few  others  seem 
too  important  in  their  bearing  upon  the  subject 
to  be  omitted,  even  in  this  hasty  survey. 

Some  curious  experiments  in  the  production  of 
local  anaesthesia  were  observed  by  the  committee 
on  mesmerism  from  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research. 

The  subject  was  in  his  normal  condition  and 
blindfolded ;  his  arms  were  then  passed  through 


68       TELE  PA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

holes  in  a  thick  paper  screen,  extending  in  front 
of  him  and  far  above  his  head,  and  his  ten  fin- 
gers were  spread  out  upon  a  table.  Two  of  the 
fingers  were  then  silently  pointed  out  by  a  third 
person  to  Mr.  S.,  the  operator,  who  proceeded  to 
make  passes  over  the  designated  fingers. 

Care  was  taken  that  such  a  distance  was  main- 
tained between  the  fingers  of  the  subject  and 
operator  that  no  contact  was  possible,  and  no 
currents  of  air  or  sensation  of  heat  were  pro- 
duced by  which  the  subject  might  possibly  divine 
which  of  his  fingers  were  the  subject  of  experi- 
ment. In  short,  the  strictest  test  conditions  in 
every  particular,  were  observed.  After  the 
passes  had  been  continued  for  a  minute,  or  even 
less  time,  the  operator  simply  holding  his  own 
fingers  pointed  downward  toward  the  designated 
fingers  of  the  subject,  the  two  fingers  so  treated 
were  found  to  be  perfectly  stiff  and  insensible. 
A  strong  current  of  electricity,  wounding  with 
a  pointed  instrument,  burning  with  a  match — all 
failed  to  elicit  the  slightest  sign  of  pain  or  dis- 
comfort, while  the  slightest  injury  to  the  unmag- 
netized  fingers  quickly  elicited  cries  and  protests. 
When  told  to  double  up  his  fist  the  two  magnet- 
ized fingers  remained  rigid  and  immovable,  and 
utterly  refused  to  be  folded  up  with  the  others. 


INANIMA  TE  OBJEC  TS  MA  GNE TIZED.  69 

A  series  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  experiments 
of  this  character  was  made  with  five  different  sub- 
jects. Of  these,  only  seven  were  failures.  In 
another  series  of  forty-one  experiments  this  curious 
fact  was  observed.  In  all  these  experiments  the 
operator,  while  making  the  passes  in  the  same 
manner  and  under  the  same  conditions  as  in  the 
former  series,  silently  willed  that  the  effect  should 
not  follow  ;  that  is,  that  insensibility  and  rigidity 
should  not  occur.  In  thirty-six  of  these  experi- 
ments insensibility  did  not  occur ;  in  five  cases 
the  insensibility  and  rigidity  occurred — in  two 
cases  perfectly,  in  three  imperfectly. 

That  some  quality  is  imparted  even  to  inanimate 
objects  by  some  mesmerizers,  by  passes  or  handling, 
through  which  a  sensitive  or  subject  is  able  to 
recognize  and  select  that  object  from  among  many 
others,  seems  to  be  a  well-established  fact.  The 
following  experiments  are  in  point : — 

A  gentleman  well  known  to  the  committee 
of  investigation,  and  who  was  equally  inter- 
ested with  it  in  securing  reliable  results,  was  se- 
lected as  a  subject.  He  was  accustomed  to  be 
hypnotized  by  the  operator,  but  in  the  present 
case  he  remained  perfectly  in  his  normal  con- 
dition. 

One  member  of  the  committee  took  the  subject 


70   TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

into  a  separate  room  on  another  floor  and  engaged 
him  closely  in  conversation.  The  operator  re- 
mained with  other  members  of  the  committee. 
Ten  small  miscellaneous  articles,  such  as  a  piece 
of  sealing  wax,  a  penknife,  paperweight,  card-case, 
pocketbook,  and  similar  articles  were  scattered 
upon  a  table.  One  was  designated  by  the  com- 
mittee, over  which  the  mesmerist  made  passes, 
sometimes  with  light  contact. 

This  was  continued  for  one  or  two  minutes,  and 
when  the  process  was  completed  the  mesmerist 
was  conducted  out  and  to  a  third  room.  The 
articles  were  then  rearranged  in  a  manner  quite 
different  from  that  in  which  they  had  been  left  by 
the  operator,  and  the  subject  from  the  floor  above 
was  brought  into  the  room.  The  several  objects 
were  then  examined  by  the  sensitive,  who  upon 
taking  the  mesmerized  object  in  his  hand, 
immediately  recognized  it  as  the  one  treated  by 
his  mesmerizer. 

The  experiment  was  then  varied  by  using  ten 
small  volumes  exactly  alike.  One  volume  was 
selected  by  the  committee,  over  which  the  oper- 
ator simply  made  passes  with  out  any  contact 
whatsoever.  Three  or  four  other  volumes  of  the 
set  were  also  handled  and  passes  made  over  them 
by  a  member  of  the  committee. 


MA  GNE  TIZED  WA  TER  DE  TEC  TED.  7 1 

The  operator  then  being  excluded,  the  sensitive 
was  brought  in  and  immediately  selected  the 
magnetized  volume.  This  he  did  four  times  in 
succession.  In  reply  to  the  question  as  to  how 
he  was  able  to  distinguish  the  magnetized  object 
from  others,  he  said  that  when  he  took  the  right 
object  in  his  hand  he  experienced  a  mild  tingling 
sensation. 

My  own  experiments  with  magnetized  water 
have  presented  similar  results.  The  water  was 
treated  by  simply  holding  the  fingers  of  both 
hands  brought  together  in  a  clump,  for  about  a 
minute  just  over  the  cup  of  water,  but  without  any 
contact  whatsoever.  This  water  was  then  given 
to  the  subject  without  her  knowing  that  she  was 
taking  part  in  an  experiment ;  but  alternating 
it  or  giving  it  irregularly  with  water  which  had 
not  been  so  treated,  and  given  by  a  third  person, 
in  every  case  the  magnetized  water  was  at  once 
detected  with  great  certainty.  In  describing 
the  sensation  produced  by  the  magnetized  water 
one  patient  said  the  sensation  was  an  agreeable 
warmth  and  stimulation  upon  the  tongue, 
another  that  it  was  a  "  sparkle "  like  aerated 
water  ;  it  sparkled  in  her  mouth  and  all  the  way 
down  into  her  stomach.  Such  are  a  few  among 
the  multitude  of  facts  and  phenomena  relating 


72        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

to  hypnotism.  They  suffice  to  settle  and  make 
sure  some  matters  which  until  lately  have  been 
looked  upon  as  questionable,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  they  bring  into  prominence  others  of 
the  greatest  interest  which  demand  further 
study. 

Among  the  subjects  which  may  be  considered 
established  may  be  placed, 

(1)  The  reality  of  the  hypnotic  condition. 

(2)  The  increased  and  unusual  power  of  sugges- 
tion over  the  hypnotized  subject. 

(3)  The   usefulness   of   hypnotism   as  a  thera- 
peutic agent. 

(4)  The  perfect  reality  and  natural,  as  contrasted 
with  supernatural,  character  of  many  wonderful 
phenomena,  both  physical  and  psychical,  exhibited 
in  the  hypnotic  state. 

On  the  other  hand,  much  remains  for  future 
study  ; 

(1)  The  exact   nature  of  the   influence  which 
produces  the  hypnotic  condition  is  not  known. 

(2)  Neither   is  the   nature    of   the   rapport   or 
peculiar  relationship   which    exists   between  the 
hypnotizer  and  the  hypnotized  subject — a  relation- 
ship which  is  sometimes  so  close  that  the  subject 
hears  no  voice  but  that  of  his  hypnotizer,  perceives 
and   experiences   the   same   sensations   of  taste, 


ESTABLISHED  FACTS  HERE  PRESENTED.     73 

touch,  and  feeling  generally  as  are  experienced  by 
him,  and  can  be  awakened  only  by  him. 

(3)  Nor  is  it  known  by  what  peculiar  process 
suggestion  is  rendered  so  potent,  turning,  for  the 
time  being,  at  least,  water  into  wine,  vulgar  weeds 
into  choicest  flowers,  a  lady's  drawing-room  into 
a  fishpond,  and  clear  skies  and  quiet  waters  into 
lightning-rent  storm-clouds  and  tempest-tossed 
waves ;  turning  laughter  into  sadness,  and  tears 
into  mirth. 

In  dealing  with  the  subject  of  hypnotism  in  this 
hasty  and  general  way,  only  such  facts  and  phe- 
nomena have  been  presented  as  are  well  known 
and  accepted  by  well-informed  students  of  the 
subjects.  Others  still  more  wonderful  will  later 
claim  our  attention. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LUCIDITY  OR  CLAIRVOYANCE. 

WHILE  there  is  doubtess  a  recognized  standard 
of  normal  perception,  yet  the  acuteness  with  which 
sensations  are  perceived  by  different  individuals, 
even  in  ordinary  health,  passes  through  a  wide 
scale  of  variation,  both  above  and  below  this 
standard.  The  difference  in  the  ability  to  see  and 
recognize  natural  objects,  signs,  and  indications, 
between  the  ordinary  city  denizen  and,  for 
instance,  the  American  Indian  or  the  white 
frontiersman,  hunter,  or  scout,  is  something  mar- 
vellous. 

So,  also,  regarding  the  power  to  distinguish 
colors.  One  person  may  not  be  able  to  distin- 
guish even  the  simple  or  primary  colors,  as,  for 
example,  red  from  blue  or  green,  while  the  weav- 
ers of  Central  or  Eastern  Asia  distinguish  with 
certainty  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  shades 
which  are  entirely  undistinguishable  to  ordinary 

Western  eyes. 
74 


EXTREMES  OF  PITCH  NOT  HEARD.  75 

So  of  sound.  One  ear  can  hardly  be  said  to  make 
any  distinction  whatever  regarding  pitch,  while 
to  another  the  slightest  variation  is  perfectly  per- 
ceptible. Some  even  do  not  hear  at  all  sounds 
above  or  below  a  certain  pitch ;  some  persons  of 
ordinary  hearing  within  a  certain  range  of  pitch, 
nevertheless,  have  never  heard  the  song  of  the 
canary  bird,  and  perhaps  have  lived  through  a 
large  portion  of  their  lives  without  even  knowing 
that  it  was  a  song-bird  at  all.  Its  song  was  above 
the  range  of  their  hearing.  Some  never  hear  the 
sound  of  the  piccolo,  or  octave  flute,  while  others 
miss  entirely  the  lowest  notes  of  the  organ. 

There  is  the  same  great  difference  in  perception 
by  touch,  taste,  and  smell.  In  certain  conditions 
of  disease,  accompanied  by  great  depression  of 
the  vital  forces,  this  deviation  from  normal  per- 
ception is  greatly  increased.  I  have  had  a  patient 
who  presented  the  following  briefly-outlined  phe- 
nomena : — 

After  a  long  illness,  during  which  other  inter- 
esting psychical  phenomena  were  manifested,  as 
convalescence  progressed,  I  had  occasion  to  notice 
instances  of  supernormal  perception,  and  to  test 
it  I  made  use  of  the  following  expedient :  Taking 
an  old-fashioned  copper  cent,  I  carefully  envel- 
oped it  in  a  piece  of  ordinary  tissue  paper.  This 


76        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

was  then  covered  by  another  and  then  another, 
until  the  coin  had  acquired  six  complete  enve- 
lopes of  the  paper,  and  formed  a  little  flat  parcel, 
easily  held  in  the  palm  of  my  hand. 

Taking  this  with  me,  I  visited  my  patient.  She 
was  lying  upon  a  sofa,  and  as  I  entered  the  room 
I  took  a  chair  and  sat  leisurely  down  beside  her, 
having  the  little  package  close  in  the  palm  of  my 
right  hand.  I  took  her  right  hand  in  mine  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  little  package  was  between 
our  hands  in  close  contact  with  her  palm  as  well 
as  my  own.  I  remarked  upon  the  weather  and 
commenced  the  routine  duty  of  feeling  her  pulse 
with  my  left  hand.  A  minute  or  two  was  then 
passed  in  banter  and  conversation,  designed  to 
thoroughly  engage  her  attention,  when  all  at  once 
she  commenced  to  wipe  her  mouth  with  her 
handkerchief  and  to  spit  and  sputter  with  her 
tongue  and  lips,  as  if  to  rid  herself  of  some  offen- 
sive taste  or  substance.  She  then  looked  up  sus- 
piciously at  me  and  said  : 

"  I  wonder  what  you  are  doing  with  me  now." 

Then  suddenly  pulling  her  hand  away  from 
mine  she  exclaimed : 

"  I  know  what  it  is  ;  you  have  put  a  nasty  piece 
of  copper  in  my  hand." 

Through  all  these  coverings  the  coppery  emana- 


EXAL  TA  TION  OF  PERCEPTIVE  PO  WERS.      7 7 

tion  from  the  coin  had  penetrated  her  system, 
reached  her  tongue,  and  was  perceptible  to  her 
supernormal  taste. 

This  patient  could  distinguish  with  absolute 
certainty  "  mesmerized  "  water  from  that  which 
had  not  been  so  treated  ;  my  finger,  also,  pointed 
at  her  even  at  a  distance  and  when  her  back  was 
turned  to  me  caused  convulsive  action,  and  the 
same  result  followed  when  the  experiment  was 
made  through  a  closed  door,  and  when  she  did 
not  suspect  that  I  was  in  the  neighborhood. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  how  marvellously  the  action 
of  certain  senses  may  be  exalted  by  long  and  care- 
ful training  on  the  one  hand,  and  suddenly  by 
disease  on  the  other.  We  have  seen,  moreover, 
how  some  persons  known  as  sensitives  are  able 
to  receive  impressions  by  thought-transference  so 
as  to  name  cards,  repeat  words  and  fictitious 
names,  both  of  persons  and  places,  merely  thought 
of  but  not  spoken  by  another  person  known  as 
as  the  agent  or  operator,  and  to  draw  diagrams 
unmistakably  like  those  formed  in  the  mind  or 
intently  looked  upon  by  the  agent. 

We  have  also  seen  how  the  hypnotized  or  mes- 
merized subject  is  able  to  detect  objects  which 
have  only  been  touched  or  handled  by  the  mes- 
merizer,  and  even  to  feel  pain  inflicted  upon  him, 


78        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

and  recognize  by  taste  substances  put  in  the  mes- 
merizer's  mouth. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  not  only  increased 
but  entirely  supernormal  perception  on  the  part  of 
some  individuals  is  a  well-established  fact.  But 
all  these  conditions  of  increased  power  of  percep- 
tion, and  especially  thought-transference,  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  independent  clair- 
voyance. It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to 
discuss  the  method  or  philosophy  of  clairvoyance, 
but  simply  to  call  attention  to  well-authenticated 
facts  illustrating  the  exercise  of  this  power,  and 
to  briefly  point  to  the  current  theories  regard- 
ing it. 

A  belief  in  supernormal  perception,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  clairvoyant  vision,  is  apparent  in 
the  history,  however  meagre  it  may  be,  of  every 
ancient  nation. 

Hebrew  history  is  full  of  instances  of  it.  A 
striking  example  is  recorded  as  occurring  during 
the  long  war  between  Syria  and  Israel.  The  King 
of  Syria  had  good  reasons  for  suspecting  that  in 
some  manner  the  King  of  Israel  was  made  ac- 
quainted with  all  his  intended  military  operations, 
since  he  was  always  prepared  to  thwart  them  at 
every  point.  Accordingly  he  called  together  his 
chiefs  and  demanded  to  know  who  it  was  among 


ANCIENT  ORACLES.  79 

them  who  thus  favored  the  King  of  Israel,  to 
which  one  of  the  chiefs  replied  :  "  It  is  none  of 
thy  servants,  O  King :  but  Elisha,  a  prophet  that 
is  in  Israel,  telleth  the  King  of  Israel  the  words 
that  thou  speakest  in  thy  chamber." 

Pythagoras,  a  century  before  the  time  of  Soc- 
rates, found  this  faculty  believed  in,  and  made 
use  of  in  Egypt,  Babylon,  and  India,  and  he  him- 
self, as  the  founder  of  the  early  Greek  philosophy 
and  culture,  practised  and  taught  the  esoteric  as 
well  as  the  exoteric  methods  of  acquiring  knowl- 
edge, and  he  is  credited  with  having  acquired  by 
esoteric  methods — internal  or  mental  perception 
and  clairvoyant  vision — a  knowledge  of  the  true 
theory  of  the  solar  system  as  expounded  and  dem- 
onstrated in  a  later  day  by  Copernicus. 

As  an  example  of  responses  by  the  Greek  ora- 
cles, take  the  experience  of  Croesus,  the  rich  King 
of  Lydia.  He  sent  messengers  to  ascertain  if  the 
Pythoness  could  tell  what  he,  the  King  of  Lydia, 
was  doing  on  a  certain  specified  day.  The  answer 
came : — 

"  I  number  the  sands — I  fathom  the  sea. 
I  hear  the  dumb— I  know  the  thoughts  of  the  silent. 
There  cometh  to  me  the  odor  of  lamb's  flesh. 
It  is  seething,  mixed  with  the  flesh  of  a  tortoise. 
Brass  is  beneath  it,  and  brass  is  also  above  it." 

The  messenger  returned  and  delivered  the  reply, 


go        TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

when  he  found  that  Croesus,  in  order  to  do  some- 
thing most  unlikely  to  be  either  guessed  or  dis- 
covered, had  cut  in  pieces  a  lamb  and  a  tortoise, 
and  seethed  them  together  in  a  brazen  vessel 
having  a  brazen  cover. 

Apollonius  Tyaneus,  a  Pythagorian  philoso- 
pher and  chief  of  a  school  of  philosophy  which 
was  the  predecessor  of  the  Alexandrian  Neo- 
Platonists,  is  credited  with  most  remarkable  clair- 
voyant powers.  Many  instances  of  this  faculty 
are  recorded  and  believed  upon  the  best  of  ancient 
authority. 

One  instance  relates  to  the  assassination  of 
Domitian.  Apollonius  was  in  the  midst  of  a  dis- 
course at  Ephesus,  when  suddenly  he  stopped  as 
though  having  lost  his  train  of  thought.  After  a 
moment's  hesitation,  to  the  astonishment  of  his 
auditors,  he  cried  out :  "  Strike  !  strike  the  tyrant." 
Seeing  the  surprise  of  the  people  he  explained 
that  at  the  very  moment  at  which  he  had  stopped 
in  his  discourse  the  tyrant  was  slain.  Subse- 
quent information  proved  that  Domitian,  the 
reigning  tyrant,  was  assassinated  at  that  very 
moment. 

Ancient  historians,  philosophers  and  poets  all 
unite  in  defending  the  truth  of  the  oracles  and 
their  power  of  perceiving  events  transpiring  at  a 


ORACLES  AUTHENTICATED  BY  HISTORIANS.  8 1 

distance,  and  also  of  foreseeing  those  in  the  future. 
Herodotus  gives  more  than  seventy  examples  of 
oracular  responses,  dreams  and  portents  which  he 
affirms  were  literally  fulfilled.  Livy  gives  more 
than  fifty,  Cicero  many  striking  cases  ;  and  Xeno- 
phon,  Plato,  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  and  a  host  of 
other  writers  all  give  evidence  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. Now  whether  these  responses  and  visions 
were,  as  all  these  intelligent  people  supposed, 
from  a  supernatural  source,  or  as  we  shall  en- 
deavor to  show,  had  their  origin  in  certain  facul- 
ties naturally  appertaining  to  the  mind,  and  which 
at  certain  times  and  under  certain  favorable  cir- 
cumstances came  into  activity,  it  certainly  shows 
that  the  most  intelligent  men  amongst  all  the 
most  cultivated  nations  of  the  past  have  been  firm 
believers  in  the  reality  of  clairvoyance. 

Coming  down  to  later  times,  Emanuel  Sweden- 
borg,  and  Frederica  Hauff6,  the  seeress  of  Pro- 
verst,  were  marked  examples  of  the  clairvoyant 
faculty.  Some  have  affected  to  discredit  Sweden- 
borg's  clairvoyant  powers,  but  apart  from  his 
revelations  regarding  a  spiritual  world,  which,  of 
course,  it  is  at  present  impossible  to  substantiate, 
whatever  may  be  our  belief  regarding  them,  if 
human  testimony  is  to  be  regarded  of  any  value 
whatever  in  matters  of  this  kind,  the  following 


82       TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

oft-told  incident  should  be  counted  as  established 
for  a  verity. 

On  a  Saturday  afternoon  in  September,  1756, 
Swedenborg  arrived  in  Gottenburg  from  England. 
Gottenburg  is  three  hundred  miles  from  Stock- 
holm, which  was  the  home  of  Swedenborg.  On 
the  same  evening  he  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  William 
Castel,  with  fifteen  other  persons,  who  were  in- 
vited to  meet  him,  and  who,  on  that  account,  may 
be  supposed  to  have  been  of  more  than  ordinary 
consequence  and  intelligence. 

About  six  o'clock  Swedenborg  seemed  preoc- 
cupied and  restless.  He  went  out  into  the  street, 
but  soon  returned,  anxious  and  disturbed.  He 
said  that  at  that  moment  a  great  fire  was  raging 
at  Stockholm.  He  declared  that  the  house  of 
one  of  his  friends  was  already  destroyed,  and  that 
his  own  was  in  danger.  At  eight  o'clock  he  an- 
nounced that  the  fire  was  arrested  only  three 
doors  from  his  own  house. 

The  information,  and  the  peculiar  manner  in 
which  it  was  imparted,  created  a  great  sensation, 
not  only  in  the  company  assembled  at  Mr.  Castel's, 
but  throughout  the  city.  On  Sunday  morning 
the  governor  sent  for  Swedenborg,  who  gave  him 
a  detailed  account  of  the  conflagration  and  the 
course  it  had  pursued.  On  Monday,  the  third 


THE  SEER  ESS  OF  PROVERST.  83 

day,  a  courier  arrived  from  Stockholm,  who  also 
gave  the  governor  a  detailed  account  of  the  fire, 
which  agreed  in  every  respect  with  that  already 
given  by  Swedenborg. 

Nearly  a  century  after  Swedenborg,  lived  Mme. 
Hauffe,  known  as  the  seeress  of  Proverst.  She 
died  in  1829  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight  years. 
As  a  child  she  exhibited  peculiar  psychical  ten- 
dencies, but  it  was  only  during  the  last  six  years 
of  her  life,  and  after  exhausting  illnesses,  that  her 
peculiar  clairvoyant  powers  were  conspicuously 
developed. 

Justinus  Kerner,  an  eminent  physician  and  man 
of  letters,  was  her  attending  physician  during  the 
last  three  years  of  her  life,  and  afterward  became 
her  biographer.  She  first  came  under  his  care  at 
Weinsberg  in  1826.  At  that  time  her  debility 
was  excessive,  and  nearly  every  day  she  fell  spon- 
taneously into  the  somnambulic  condition,  be- 
came clairvoyant,  and  related  her  visions.  On 
the  day  of  her  arrival  at  Weinsberg,  having  gone 
into  this  trance  condition,  she  sent  for  Kerner 
but  he  refused  to  see  her  until  she  awoke.  He 
then  told  her  that  he  would  never  see  her  nor 
listen  to  her  while  she  was  in  this  abnormal  state. 
I  mention  this  simply  to  show  that  her  physician 
was  not  then  at  all  in  sympathy  with  her  regard- 


84       TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

ing  her  peculiar  psychological  condition,  though 
afterward  he  became  thoroughly  convinced  of  its 
genuineness  and  of  her  honesty.  He  relates  the 
following  incident,  which,  with  many  others,  came 
under  his  own  observation  : — 

Soon  after  her  arrival  at  Weinsberg,  and  while 
still  a  perfect  stranger  to  her  surroundings,  while 
in  her  somnambulic  condition,  she  said  that  a 
man  was  near  her  and  desired  to  speak  with  her, 
but  that  she  could  not  understand  what  he  wanted 
to  say.  She  said  he  squinted  terribly,  and  that 
his  presence  disturbed  her,  and  she  desired  him  to 
go  away.  On  his  second  appearance,  some  weeks 
later,  she  said  he  brought  with  him  a  sheet  of 
paper  with  figures  upon  it,  and  that  he  came  up 
from  a  vault  directly  underneath  her  room. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  wine  vaults  of  Mr.  F., 
a  wine  merchant  doing  business  the  next  door, 
extended  under  Mme.  Hauff£'s  apartment,  and 
Kerner,  who  was  an  old  resident  of  the  place, 
recognized  from  the  seeress's  description  of  her 
visitor  a  man  who  formerly  was  in  Mr.  F.'s  em- 
ploy as  manager  and  bookkeeper.  This  man  had 
died  six  years  before,  and  had  left  something 
wrong  with  his  accounts — in  fact,  there  was  a 
deficit  of  1,000  florins,  and  the  manager's  private 
book  was  missing.  The  widow  had  been  sued 


MME.  HAUFFE'S  CLAIRVOYANCE.  85 

for  the  amount,  and  the  matter  was  still  unsettled. 
Again  and  again  did  this  apparition  come  to  Mme. 
Hauffe,  bringing  his  paper  and  entreating  her  to 
interest  herself  in  this  affair.  He  declared  that 
the  necessary  paper  to  clear  up  the  whole  matter 
was  in  a  building  sixty  paces  from  her  bed. 

Mme.  Hauffe  said  that  in  that  building  she  saw 
a  tall  gentleman  engaged  in  writing  in  a  small 
room,  which  opened  into  a  large  one  where  there 
was  a  desk  and  chests  ;  that  one  of  the  chests  was 
open,  and  that  on  the  desk  was  a  pile  of  papers, 
among  which  she  recognized  the  missing  docu- 
ment. 

The  wine  merchant,  being  present,  recognized 
the  office  of  the  chief  bailiff,  who  had  the  business 
in  charge.  Kerner  went  at  once  to  the  office  and 
found  everything  as  described,  but,  not  finding 
the  missing  paper,  concluded  that  her  clairvoy- 
ance was  at  fault. 

Mme.  Hauffe,  in  her  description  of  the  paper 
said  it  had  columns  of  figures  upon  it,  and  at  the 
bottom  was  the  number  80.  Kerner  prepared 
a  paper  corresponding  to  this  description,  and 
at  the  next  seance  presented  it  to  her  as  the 
missing  document.  But  she  at  once  rejected  it, 
saying  the  paper  was  still  where  she  had  before 
seen  it. 


86        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

On  renewing  the  search  the  paper  was  found  as 
described,  and  the  bailiff  was  to  bring  it  on  the 
following  day.  He  came  accordingly.  In  her 
sleep,  the  seeress  exclaimed  : 

"  The  paper  is  no  longer  in  its  place,  but  this  is 
wonderful.  The  paper  which  the  man  always  has 
in  his  hand  lies  open.  Now  I  can  read  more : 
'  To  be  carried  to  my  private  book,'  and  that  is 
what  he  always  points  to." 

The  bailiff  was  astonished,  for  instead  of  bring- 
ing the  paper  with  him  as  Kerner  had  directed,  he 
had  left  it  lying  open  on  his  desk.  All  these 
things  are  attested  by  the  bailiff,  the  wine  mer- 
chant, Kerner,  and  others  who  witnessed  them. 
Kerner  himself  visited  the  seeress  more  than  a 
thousand  times,  and  although  during  the  first  part 
of  his  observations  he  was  skeptical,  he  was  never 
able  to  detect  her  in  the  slightest  attempt  at 
deception.  She  was  in  no  way  elated  over  her 
peculiar  power,  on  the  contrary,  she  disliked  to 
speak  of  it,  and  would  gladly  have  been  free  from 
it  altogether.  Her  clairvoyant  powers  were  tested 
by  hundreds  of  excellent  observers  during  the  last 
four  years  of  her  life. 

The  case  of  Alexis,  the  noted  French  somnam- 
bulist and  clairvoyant,  is  worthy  of  notice  here. 
I  remember  very  well  the  account  of  a  stance  at 


ALEXIS  THE  FRENCH  CLAIRVOYANT.         87 

a  gathering  of  prominent  Americans  in  Paris  in 
1853,  of  which  the  following  is  an  abstract : — 

Thick  masses  of  cotton  were  bound  firmly  over 
his  eyes  in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  it  impossible 
for  him  to  see  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  in  this 
condition  he  described  pictures,  read  signatures 
of  letters  folded  in  several  envelopes,  played 
games  of  cards  with  almost  uniform  success,  and, 
being  asked  to  select  the  best  pianist  in  the  room 
from  a  number  present,  who  simply  presented 
their  hands  for  his  inspection,  he  quickly  selected 
a  young  man  not  yet  eighteen  years  old,  who  had 
won  four  first  prizes  at  the  Conservatoire,  and  was 
really  the  best  pianist  of  his  age  in  Europe. 

In  playing  cards  he  picked  up  the  trick  with  a 
rapidity  and  certainty  which  showed  how  clearly 
he  knew  the  position  of  the  cards  upon  the  table. 
Keeping  those  dealt  to  him  in  his  left  hand  he 
held  the  card  he  intended  to  play  in  his  right,  and 
never  once  changed  the  card  upon  the  play  of  his 
partner.  He  knew  his  adversary's  hand  as  well 
as  his  own.  The  writer  adds  :  "  The  cards  used 
were  bought  by  myself,  half  an  hour  before,  so 
that  any  suspicion  of  prepared  cards  would  be 
idle  and  absurd." 

It  remains  to  note  some  more  recent  in- 
stances reported  by  persons  well  known  and 


88        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

specially  qualified  to  judge  of  their  truthfulness 
and  value. 

The  first  case  which  I  will  present  is  embodied 
in  a  report  "  On  the  Evidence  of  Clairvoyance," 
by  Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick,  wife  of  Prof.  Sidgwick, 
formerly  president  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research.  It  was  furnished  by  Dr.  Elliott  Coues 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  where  the  incident  oc- 
curred, and  was  afterward  investigated  by  Mr.  F. 
W.  H.  Myers,  secretary  of  the  society.  Both  the 
persons  participating  in  the  incident  were  well 
known  to  Prof.  Coues,  and  were  both  persons  of 
prominence,  one,  Mrs.  C.,  being  well  known  as  a 
writer  and  lecturer,  and  the  other,  designated  as 
Mrs.  B.,  was  well  known  for  her  rare  psychic 
faculties  and  her  absolute  integrity. 

The  incidents  of  the  case  are  simple  and  unim- 
portant, but  they  have  a  special  value  on  account 
of  their  clearness,  freedom  from  the  possibility  of 
external  suggestion,  and  the  well  known  ability 
and  integrity  of  the  reporter.  The  following  are 
the  points  in  the  case : — 

In  Washington,  D.  C.,  January  14,  1889,  be- 
tween 2  and  3  o'clock  P.  M.,  Mrs.  C.,  having  been 
engaged  in  writing  in  the  Congressional  Library, 
left  the  building  at  2 : 40  o'clock,  and  one  or  two 
minutes  later  was  at  her  residence,  in  Delaware 


S££S  HER  FRIEND  FALL.  89 

Avenue,  carrying  her  papers  in  her  hand.  In  as- 
cending the  steps  leading  from  the  street  to  the 
front  yard  she  stumbled  and  fell.  She  was  not 
hurt,  but  "picked  herself  up"  and  went  into  the 
house. 

About  the  same  hour,  certainly  between  2  and 
3  o'clock,  Mrs.  B.,  sitting  sewing  in  her  room  a 
mile  and  a  half  away,  sees  the  occurrence  in  all  its 
details.  The  ladies  are  friends.  They  had  met 
the  day  previous,  but  not  since.  The  vision  is 
wholly  a  surprise  to  Mrs.  B.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
so  vivid  that  she  at  once  sits  down  and  writes  to 
Mrs.  C.,  describing  minutely  the  occurrence, 
which  letter  Mrs.  C.  receives  the  next  morning 
with  much  surprise.  The  following  is  an  ex- 
tract from  the  letter: — 

"  I  was  sitting  in  my  room  sewing  this  afternoon 
about  2  o'clock,  when  what  should  I  see  but  your 
own  dear  self — but  heavens !  in  what  a  position  ! 
You  were  falling  up  the  front  steps  in  the  yard. 

"  You  had  on  your  black  skirt  and  velvet  waist, 
your  little  straw  bonnet,  and  in  your  hand  were 
some  papers.  When  you  fell,  your  hat  went  in 
one  direction  and  your  papers  in  another.  You 
very  quickly  put  on  your  bonnet,  picked  up  your 
papers,  and  lost  no  time  in  getting  into  the  house. 
You  did  not  appear  to  be  hurt,  but  looked  some- 


90       TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

what  mortified.  It  was  all  so  plain  to  me  that  I 
had  ten  notions  to  one  to  dress  myself  and  come 
over  and  see  if  it  were  true,  but  finally  concluded 
that  a  sober,  industrious  woman  like  yourself 
would  not  be  stumbling  around  at  that  rate, 
and  thought  I'd  best  not  go  on  a  wild-goose 
chase. 

"  Now,  what  do  you  think  of  such  a  vision  as 
that  ?  Is  there  any  possible  truth  in  it  ?  I  feel 
almost  ready  to  scream  with  laughter  whenever  I 
think  of  it ;  you  did  look  too  funny  spreading  your- 
self out  in  the  front  yard.  '  Great  was  the  fall 
thereof.'  I  can  distinctly  call  to  mind  the  house 
in  which  you  live,  but  for  the  life  of  me  I  cannot 
tell  whether  there  are  any  steps  from  the  side- 
walk into  the  yard,  as  I  saw  them,  or  not." 

In  answer  to  Mr.  Myers'  letter  of  inquiry  to 
Mrs.  C.,  she  says  that  the  incident  was  described 
exactly — the  dress  as  correctly  as  she  could  have 
described  it  herself.  There  were  two  steps  from 
the  sidewalk  to  the  yard,  and  it  was  on  the  top 
one  of  these  two  steps  that  Mrs.  C.  stumbled. 
The  manner  of  the  fall,  the  behavior  of  the  bon- 
net and  papers,  and  her  own  sensations  were  all 
correctly  described. 

The  next  case — also  embodied  in  the  same  re- 
port and  examined  in  the  same  careful  manner 


CLAIRVOYANCE  IN  THE  HYPNOTIC  STATE.  91 

by  Mr.  Myers — was  the  exhibition  of  clairvoyant 
powers  by  a  woman  called  Jane,  the  wife  of  a 
pitman  in  the  County  of  Durham,  in  England.  She 
received  no  fees  and  was  averse  to  being  experi- 
mented with  for  fear  of  being  ridiculed  or  called 
a  witch  by  her  associates. 

She  was  a  particularly  refined  woman  for  one 
of  her  class,  sweet,  gentle,  with  delicately  cut 
features,  religious  and  conscientious  to  a  remark- 
able degree.  She  was  a  marked  example  of  those 
who,  in  the  trance  condition,  could  not  be  in- 
duced by  suggestion  to  do  a  wrong  or  a  mean 
act,  or  one  which  she  would  consider  wrong  in 
her  normal  state.  In  her  sleep  she  was  anaes- 
thetic, felt  herself  quite  on  an  equality  with  the 
operator,  always  spoke  of  herself  as  "we,"  and  of 
her  normal  self  as  "  that  girl."  The  following 
instance  of  her  clairvoyance  was  furnished  by 
Dr.  F.,  who  knew  her  well  for  many  years,  and  is 
from  notes  taken  at  the  time : — 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  exper- 
iment the  doctor  arranged  with  a  patient  in  a 
neighboring  village  that  he  should  be  in  a  partic- 
ular room  between  the  hours  of  8  and  10  in  the 
evening.  The  patient  was  just  recovering  from 
a  severe  illness  and  was  weak  and  very  thin  and 
emaciated.  This  gentleman  and  the  doctor  were 


92        TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

the  only  persons  who  knew  anything  of  the 
arrangement  or  the  proposed  experiment. 

After  having  secured  the  proper  somnambulic 
condition  in  the  subject,  Dr.  F.  directed  her  at- 
tention to  the  house  where  his  patient  was  sup- 
posed to  be  awaiting  the  experiment,  as  arranged. 
She  entered  the  house,  described  correctly  the 
rooms  passed  through,  in  one  of  which  she  men- 
tioned a  lady  with  black  hair  lying  on  a  sofa,  but 
no  gentleman.  The  doctor's  report  then  goes 
on  as  follows : — 

"  After  a  little  she  described  the  door  opening 
and  asked  with  a  tone  of  great  surprise : 

" '  Is  that  a  man  ? ' 

"  I  replied,  '  Yes ;  is  he  thin  or  fat  ?  ' 

" '  Very  fat,'  she  answered  ;  '  but  has  the  gen- 
tleman a  cork  leg?  ' 

"  I  assured  her  that  he  had  not,  and  tried  to 
puzzle  her  still  more  about  him.  She,  however, 
persisted  in  her  statement  that  he  was  very  fat, 
and  said  that  he  had  a  great  '  corporation,'  and 
asked  me  whether  I  did  not  think  such  a  fat  man 
must  eat  and  drink  a  great  deal  to  get  such  a 
corporation  as  that.  She  also  described  him  as 
sitting  by  the  table  with  papers  beside  him,  and 
a  glass  of  brandy  and  water. 

"  '  Is  it  not  wine?  '  I  asked. 


HER  CLAIRVOYANCE  PROVED  CORRECT.      93 

"  '  No,'  she  said,  '  It's  brandy.' 

"  '  Is  it  not  whisky  or  rum  ?  ' 

"  '  No,  it  is  brandy,'  was  the  answer ;  '  and  now,' 
she  continued, '  the  lady  is  going  to  get  her  supper, 
but  the  fat  gentleman  does  not  take  any.' 

"  I  requested  her  to  tell  me  the  color  of  his 
hair,  but  she  only  replied  that  the  lady's  hair  was 
dark.  I  then  inquired  if  he  had  any  brains  in  his 
head,  but  she  seemed  altogether  puzzled  about 
him,  and  only  said  she  could  not  see  any.  I 
then  asked  her  if  she  could  see  his  name  upon 
any  of  the  papers  lying  about.  She  replied, 
'  Yes ; '  and  upon  my  saying  that  the  name 
began  with  E,  she  spelled  each  letter  of  the 
name,  "  Eglinton." 

"  I  was  so  convinced  that  I  had  at  last  detected 
her  in  a  complete  mistake  that  I  arose  and  de- 
clined proceeding  further  in  the  experiment,  stat- 
ing that,  although  her  description  of  the  house 
and  the  name  of  the  person  was  correct,  in  every- 
thing connected  with  the  gentleman  himself  she 
had  told  the  exact  opposite  of  the  truth. 

"  On  the  following  morning  Mr.  E.,  my  patient, 
asked  me  the  result  of  the  experiment.  He  had 
found  himself  unable  to  sit  up  so  late,  he  said, 
but  wishful  fairly  to  test  the  powers  of  the  clair- 
voyante,  he  had  ordered  his  clothes  to  be  stuffed 


94       TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

into  the  form  of  a  human  figure,  and,  to  make 
the  contrast  more  striking,  he  had  an  extra  pillow 
pushed  into  the  clothes,  so  as  to  form  a  '  corpora- 
tion.' This  figure  had  been  placed  by  the  table 
in  a  sitting  position  and  a  glass  of  brandy  and 
water  and  the  newspapers  placed  beside  it.  The 
name,  he  said,  was  spelled  correctly,  though  up 
to  that  time  I  had  been  in  the  habit  of  writing  it 
'  Eglington  '  instead  of  '  Eglinton.' " 

Dr.  Alfred  Backman  of  Kolmar,  Sweden,  a  cor- 
responding member  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research  and  a  good  practical  hypnotist  has  had 
unusually  good  fortune  in  finding  clairvoyants 
among  his  own  patients  in  that  northern  country. 
Two  in  particular,  Anna  Samuelson  and  Alma 
Redberg,  gave  most  excellent  examples  of  clair- 
voyant vision,  describing  rooms,  surroundings, 
persons,  and  also  events  which  were  at  the 
moment  transpiring,  though  quite  unknown  and 
unsuspected  by  any  one  present  at  the  experi- 
ment. Several  of  these  cases  are  included  in 
Mrs.  Sidgwick's  report.  Instead  of  these  cases, 
however,  I  prefer  to  adduce  an  instance  or  two 
reported  by  Dr.  Dufay,  a  reputable  physician  of 
Blois  and  subsequently  a  senator  of  France.  The 
cases  were  first  reported  to  the  French  Socittt  de 
Psychologie  Physiologique,  which  was  presided 


HAD  JUST  DIED  IN  THE  CRIMEA.  95 

over  by  Charcot,  and  published  in  the  Revue 
Philosophique  for  September,  1888. 

Dr.  Gerault,  a  friend  of  Dr.  Dufay,  had  a  maid- 
servant named  Marie,  who  was  a  natural  somnam- 
bule,  but  who  was  also  frequently  hypnotized  by 
Dr.  Gerault.  Dr.  Dufay  witnessed  the  following 
experiments : — 

Being  hypnotized,  Marie  was  describing  to  a 
young  lady  soon  to  be  married,  some  character- 
istics of  her  lover,  much  to  the  amusement  of  the 
lady,  who  was  clapping  her  hands  and  laughing 
merrily.  Suddenly,  almost  with  the  rapidity  of 
lightning,  the  scene  changed  from  gay  to  grave. 
The  somnambulist  panted  for  breath,  tears  flowed 
down  her  face,  and  perspiration  bathed  her  brow. 
She  seemed  ready  to  fall,  and  called  on  Dr.  Ge- 
rault for  assistance. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  Marie  ?  "  said  the  doctor  ; 
from  what  are  you  suffering  ?  " 

"  Ah,  sir !  "  said  she  ;  "  ah,  sir !  how  terrible  ! 
he  is  dead  !  " 

"  Who  is  dead  ?     Is  it  one  of  my  patients?" 

"  Limoges,  the  ropemaker — you  know,  in  the 
Crimea — he  has  just  died.  Poor  folks — poor 
folks  !  " 

"  Come, come,  my  child,"  said  the  doctor,  "you 
are  dreaming — it  is  only  a  bad  dream. 


96       TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  A  dream,"  replied  the  somnambulist.  "  But 
I  am  not  asleep.  I  see  him — he  has  just  drawn 
his  last  breath.  Poor  boy !  Look  at  him." 

And  she  pointed  with  her  hand,  as  if  to  direct 
attention  to  the  scene  which  was  so  vivid  before 
her.  At  the  same  time  she  would  have  run  away, 
but  hardly  had  she  risen  to  go  when  she  fell  back, 
unable  to  move.  It  was  a  long  time  before  she 
became  calm,  but,  on  coming  to  herself,  she  had 
no  recollection  of  anything  which  had  occurred. 
Some  time  after,  Limoges  senior  received  news  of 
the  death  of  his  son.  It  occurred  near  Constan- 
tinople on  the  same  day  that  Marie  had  witnessed 
it  in  her  clairvoyant  vision. 

On  another  occasion  there  was  a  stance  at  which 
ten  or  twelve  persons  were  present.  Marie  was 
put  to  sleep  and  had  told  the  contents  of  several 
pockets  and  sealed  packages  prepared  for  the  pur- 
pose. Dr.  Dufay  came  in  late  purposely,  so  as  to 
be  as  much  out  of  rapport  with  her  as  possible. 
He  had  just  received  a  letter  from  an  officer  in 
Algiers,  stating  that  he  had  been  veiy  ill  with 
dysentery  from  sleeping  under  canvas  during  the 
rainy  season.  This  letter  he  had  placed  in  a  thick 
envelope,  without  address  or  postmark,  and  care- 
fully stuck  down  the  edges.  This  again  was 
placed  in  another  dark  envelope  and  closed  in  like 


READ  DR.  DUFAY' S  SEALED  LETTER.        97 

manner.     No  one  but  himself  knew  of  the  exist- 
ence of  this  letter. 

Unobserved,  he  passed  the  letter  to  a  lady  pres- 
ent, indicating  that  it  was  to  be  given  to  Dr. 
Gerault,  who  received  it  without  knowing  from 
whom  it  came,  and  placed  it  in  Marie's  hand. 

"  What  have  you  in  your  hand?"  asked  the 
doctor. 

"  A  letter." 

"  To  whom  is  it  directed?" 

"  To  M.  Dufay." 

"  By  whom  ?  " 

"  A  military  gentleman  whom  I  do  not  know." 

"  Of  what  does  he  write  ?  " 

"  He  is  ill — he  writes  of  his  illness." 

"  Can  you  name  his  illness  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes ;  very  well.  It  is  like  the  old  wood- 
cutter's of  Mesland,  who  is  not  yet  well." 

"  I  understand  ;  it  is  dysentery.  Now  listen, 
Marie.  It  would  give  M.  Dufay  much  pleasure 
if  you  would  go  and  see  his  friend,  the  military 
gentleman,  and  find  out  how  he  is  at  present." 

"  Oh,  it  is  too  far ;  it  would  be  a  long  journey." 

"  But  we  are  waiting  for  you.  Please  go  with- 
out losing  time." 

(A  long  pause.)     "  I   cannot  go  on  ;  there   is 
water,  a  lot  of  water." 
7 


98       TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  And  you  do  not  see  any  bridge  ?  " 

"  Of  course  there  is  no  bridge." 

"  Perhaps  there  is  a  boat  to  cross  in,  as  there  is 
to  cross  the  Loire  at  Chaumont." 

"  Boats — yes — but  this  Loire  is  a  regular  flood  ; 
it  frightens  me." 

"  Come,  come  ;  take  courage — embark." 

(A  long  silence,  agitation,  pallor,  nausea.) 
"  Have  you  arrived  ?  " 

"  Nearly  ;  but  I  am  much  fatigued,  and  I  do 
not  see  any  people  on  shore." 

"  Land  and  go  on  ;  you  will  soon  find  some 
one." 

"  There,  now  I  see  some  people — they  are  all 
women,  dressed  in  white.  But  that  is  queer — 
they  all  have  beards." 

"  Go  to  them  and  ask  where  you  will  find  the 
military  gentleman." 

(After  a  pause.)  "  They  do  not  speak  as  we  do 
— and  I  have  been  obliged  to  wait  while  they 
called  a  little  boy  with  a  red  cap,  who  understands 
me.  He  leads  me  on,  slowly,  because  we  are 
walking  in  sand.  Ah !  there  is  the  military 
gentleman.  He  has  red  trousers  and  an  officer's 
cap.  But  he  is  so  very  thin  and  ill.  What  a  pity 
he  has  not  some  of  your  medicine !  " 

"  What  does  he  say  caused  his  illness  ?  " 


DR.  BRITTAN*S  CASES.  99 

"  He  shows  me  his  bed — three  planks  on  pickets 
— over  wet  sand." 

"  Thanks.  Advise  him  to  go  to  the  hospital, 
and  now  return  to  Blois." 

The  letter  was  then  opened  and  read  to  the 
company  and  caused  no  little  astonishment. 

Remarkable  instances  of  clairvoyance  have  not 
been  frequently  reported  in  America.  Neverthe- 
less, well-authenticated  cases  are  by  no  means 
wanting.  Dr.  S.  B.  Brittan,  in  his  book  entitled 
"  Man  and  His  Relations,"  relates  several  such 
cases.  The  following  came  under  his  own  obser- 
vation : — 

In  the  autumn  of  1855  he  saw  Mr.  Charles 
Baker  of  Michigan,  who,  while  out  on  a  hunting 
excursion,  had  been  accidentally  shot  by  his  com- 
panion. The  charge  passed  through  his  pocket, 
demolishing  several  articles  and  carrying  portions 
of  the  contents  of  the  pocket  deep  into  the  fleshy 
part  of  his  thigh.  The  accident  was  of  a  serious 
character,  causing  extreme  suffering,  great  de- 
bility, and  emaciation,  lasting  several  months, 
as  well  as  much  anxiety  regarding  his  ultimate 
recovery. 

He  was  in  this  low  condition  when  seen  by  Dr. 
Brittan.  The  doctor  soon  after  returned  East, 
and  called  on  Mrs.  Metier  of  Hartford,  with  whose 


ioo    TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

clairvoyant  power  he  was  familiar,  and  requested 
her  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  a  young  man 
who  had  been  shot.  No  information  was  given 
as  to  his  residence,  condition,  or  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  accident. 

She  directly  found  the  patient,  described  the 
wound,  and  declared  that  there  was  a  piece  of 
copper  still  in  the  wound,  and  that  he  would  not 
recover  until  it  was  removed. 

Young  Baker,  however,  was  sure  he  had  no 
copper  in  his  pocket  at  the  time  of  the  accident ; 
the  medical  attendant  found  no  indications  of  it, 
so  it  was  concluded  that  the  clairvoyant  had  made 
a  mistake. 

Later,  however,  a  foreign  substance  made  its 
appearance  in  the  wound,  and  was  removed  by  the 
mother  of  the  patient  with  a  pair  of  embroidery 
scissors;  it  proved  to  be  a  copper  cent.  The 
removal  of  the  foreign  substance  was  followed  by 
rapid  recovery.  The  discovery  of  the  copper  coin 
was  made  by  the  clairvoyant  while  at  a  distance 
of  nearly  one  thousand  miles  from  the  patient. 

Mrs.  H.  Porter,  while  at  her  home  in  Bridge- 
port, Conn.,  in  the  presence  of  the  same  writer, 
declared  that  a  large  steamer  was  on  fire  on  the 
Hudson  River ;  that  among  other  objects  in  the 
vicinity  she  could  clearly  distinguish  the  village 


THE  FALL  RIVER  FIRE  SEEN  IN  MAINE.     ioi 

of  Yonkers,  and  that  the  name  of  the  steamer  was 
the  Henry  Clay.  The  whole  sad  catastrophe  was 
described  by  her  with  minuteness,  as  if  occurring 
in  her  immediate  presence. 

The  next  morning  the  New  York  papers  gave 
a  full  account  of  the  burning  of  the  Henry  Clay 
off  the  village  of  Yonkers — an  occurrence  which, 
doubtless,  some  of  my  readers  may  still  remember 
— corresponding  in  every  important  particular 
with  that  given  by  the  clairvoyant. 

Mr.  John  Fitzgerald  of  Brunswick,  Me.,  once  a 
somewhat  noted  temperance  lecturer,  but  at  the 
time  now  referred  to  a  bed-ridden  invalid,  saw, 
clairvoyantly,  and  fully  described  the  great  fire  in 
Fall  River,  Mass.,  in  1874,  by  which  a  large  fac- 
tory was  destroyed.  He  described  the  com- 
mencement and  progress  of  the  fire,  the  means 
employed  to  rescue  the  operatives,  criticised  the 
work  of  the  firemen,  shouted  directions,  as  if  he 
were  present,  and  at  last  as  the  roof  fell  in,  he  fell 
back  upon  the  pillow  and  said  : 

"  It  is  all  over — the  roof  has  fallen,  and  those 
poor  people  are  burned." 

It  was  not  until  three  days  later  that  Mrs. 
Fitzgerald  obtained  a  paper  containing  an  ac- 
count of  the  fire.  This  she  read  to  her  husband, 
who  frequently  interrupted  her  to  tell  her  what 


102      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

would  come  next  as  "  he  had  seen  it  all."  The 
account  corresponded  almost  exactly  with  the 
description  given  by  Mr.  Fitzgerald  while  the  fire 
was  in  progress. 

I  have,  myself,  recently  found  a  very  excellent 
subject  whom  I  will  call  A.  B.,  whom  I  first 
hypnotized  on  account  of  illness,  but  who  after- 
ward proved  to  have  psychic  perception  and  clair- 
voyant powers  of  a  remarkable  character.  Once, 
while  in  the  hypnotic  condition,  I  asked  her  if 
she  could  go  away  and  see  what  was  transpiring 
in  other  places,  as  for  instance,  at  her  own  home. 
She  replied  that  she  would  try.  I  then  told  her  to 
go  to  her  home,  in  a  small  town  three  hundred  miles 
away  and  quite  unknown  to  me,  and  see  who  was 
in  the  house  and  what  they  were  doing.  After  a 
minute  of  perfect  silence  she  said  :  "  I  am  there." 
"  Go  in,"  I  said,  "  and  tell  me  what  you  find." 
She  said :  "  There  is  no  one  at  home  but  my 
mother.  She  is  sitting  in  the  dining-room  by  a 
window ;  there  is  a  screen  in  the  window  which 
was  not  there  when  I  left  home.  My  mother  is 
sewing."  "  What  sort  of  sewing  is  it  ?  "  I  asked. 
"  It  is  a  waist  for  D."  (her  little  brother).  I  wrote 
down  every  detail  of  her  description,  and  then 
awoke  her.  She  had  no  recollection  of  anything 
which  had  transpired,  but  said  she  had  had 


DESCRIBED  RACES  TEN  MILES  DISTANT.    103 

a  restful  sleep.  I  then  desired  her  to  write  at 
once  to  her  mother  and  ask  who  was  in  the 
house  at  four  o'clock  this  same  afternoon,  where 
she  was,  and  what  she  was  doing. 

The  answer  came,  describing  everything  exactly 
as  set  down  in  my  notes. 

On  another  occasion  when  I  made  my  visit,  it 
happened  to  be  the  day  of  the  races  occurring  at 
a  well  known  track  some  ten  miles  away,  and 
members  of  the  household  where  she  was  residing 
had  gone  to  witness  them.  Neither  she  nor  I  had 
ever  attended  these  races — we  knew  nothing  of 
the  appearance  of  the  place,  of  the  events  that 
were  expected,  nor  even  of  the  ordinary  routine 
of  the  sport.  She  was  put  into  the  deep  hyp- 
notic sleep,  and  thinking  it  a  good  opportunity  to 
test  her  clairvoyance,  I  requested  her  to  go  to  the 
grounds  and  I  carefully  directed  her  on  her 
journey.  Once  within  the  inclosure  she  described 
the  bright  and  cheerful  appearance — the  pavilion, 
the  judge's  stand,  and  the  position  of  persons 
whom  she  knew.  She  said  there  was  no  race 
at  the  time ;  but  that  boys  were  going  around 
among  the  spectators  and  getting  money  ;  that  the 
people  seemed  excited  ;  that  they  stood  up  and 
held  out  money,  and  beckoned  to  the  boys  to 
come — but  she  did  not  know  what  it  meant.  I 


104     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

suggested  that  perhaps  they  were  betting.  She 
seemed  to  look  carefully  and  then  said  :  "  That 
is  just  what  they  are  doing."  She  then  described 
the  race  which  followed,  was  much  excited,  and 
told  who  of  the  persons  she  knew  were  winners. 
I  then  said:  "  You  will  remember  all  this  and  be 
able  to  tell  M.  when  she  comes  home." 

It  was  found  that  everything  had  transpired  as 
she  had  described.  One  of  the  races  had  been  a 
failure,  the  horses  coming  in  neck  and  neck ;  all 
bets  were  cancelled  and  new  bets  were  made, 
which  caused  the  excitement  which  she  had  wit- 
nessed. She  surprised  those  who  were  present 
by  the  accuracy  of  her  description,  both  of  the 
place  and  the  events,  especially  of  the  excitement 
caused  by  making  the  new  bets. 

On  the  same  occasion,  before  awakening  her,  I 
said  to  her :  "Now,  I  have  something  very  par- 
ticular to  say  to  you  and  I  want  you  to  pay  close 
attention. 

"  This  evening  when  your  dinner  is  brought  up 
to  you — you,  A.  B.'s  second  self,  will  make 
A.  B.  see  me  come  in  and  stand  here  at  the 
foot  of  the  bed.  I  shall  say  to  you  :  '  Hello  !  you 
are  at  dinner.  Well,  I  won't  disturb  you,'  and 
immediately  I  shall  go.  And  you  will  write  me 
about  my  visit."  I  then  awoke  her  in  the  usual 


SUGGESTED  POST-HYPNOTIC  APPEARANCES.  105 

manner.  This  was  Tuesday,  July  3,  1894.  On 
Thursday  following  I  received  this  note,  which  I 
have  in  my  possession. 

"  DEAR  DR.  MASON  :— 

"  As  I  was  eating  my  dinner  on  Tuesday  I  heard 
some  one  say  'Good-evening.'  I  turned  around  sur- 
prised, as  I  had  heard  no  one  enter  the  room,  and 
there  at  the  foot  of  the  bed  I  saw  you. 

"  I  said  '  Halloo  !  won't  you  sit  down  ? '  you  said : 
'Are  you  taking  your  dinner?  Then  I  won't 
detain  you,'  and  before  I  could  detain  you,  you 
disappeared  as  mysteriously  as  you  had  come. 
Why  did  you  leave  so  suddenly?  Were  you 
angry  ?  Mary,  the  nurse,  says  you  were  not  here 
at  all  at  dinner-time.  I  say  you  were.  Which 
of  us  is  right  ? 

"  Sincerely, 

"A.  B." 

(Full  name  signed.) 

The  clairvoyant  faculty  is  sometimes  exercised 
in  sleep,  and  hence  the  importance  so  often 
attached  to  dreams.  I  have  a  patient,  Miss  M.  L., 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  who  has  been  under  my  ob- 
servation for  the  past  fifteen  years,  and  for  whose 
truthfulness  and  good  sense  I  can  fully  vouch. 
From  childhood  she  has  been  a  constant  and  most 


106     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

troublesome  somnambulist,  walking  almost  every 
night,  until  two  years  ago  when  I  first  hypnotized 
her  and  suggested  that  she  should  not  again  leave 
her  bed  while  asleep,  and  she  has  not  done  so. 

This  person's  dreams  are  marvellously  vivid, 
buther  most  vivid  ones  she  does  not  call  dreams. 
She  says,  "  When  I  dream  I  dream,  but  when  I  see 
I  see." 

Nine  years  ago,  M.  L.,  had  a  friend  in  New 
Mexico  whom  I  will  call  G.,  from  whom  she  had 
not  heard  for  months,  and  of  whose  surroundings 
she  knew  absolutely  nothing. 

One  night  she  dreamed,  or,  as  she  expresses  it, 
saw  this  friend  in  Albuquerque.  She  was,  as  it 
seemed  to  her,  present  in  the  room  where  he  was, 
and  saw  everything  in  it  with  the  same  degree  of 
distinctness  as  though  she  were  actually  present. 
She  noticed  the  matting  on  the  floor,  the  willow- 
ware  furniture,  bed,  rocking-chair,  footstool,  and 
other  articles.  He  was  talking  with  a  companion, 
a  person  of  very  striking  appearance,  whom  she 
also  minutely  observed  as  regarded  personal 
appearance,  dress,  and  position  in  the  room. 

He  was  saying  to  this  companion  that  he  was 
about  to  start  for  New  York  for  the  purpose  of 
interesting  capitalists  in  a  system  of  irrigation 
which  he  had  proposed.  His  companion  was 


CLAIR  VO  YANT  DREAM  PRO  VES  TRUE.       1 07 

laughing  sarcastically  and  ridiculing  the  whole 
scheme.  He  persisted,  and  the  conversation  was 
animated — almost  bitter. 

Three  weeks  later,  early  one  morning,  she 
dreamed  that  this  man  was  in  New  York.  She 
saw  him  coming  up  the  street  leading  to  her 
house,  and  saw  her  father  go  forward  to  meet  him. 
At  breakfast  she  told  her  father  her  dream,  and 
they  also  talked  freely  about  her  former  dream  or 
vision  of  three  weeks  before. 

After  breakfast  her  father  sat  upon  the  front 
stoop  reading  the  morning  paper,  and  M.  L. 
went  about  some  work.  Suddenly  she  heard  her 
father  call  out  in  a  startled  sort  of  way :  "  Mary, 
sure  enough,  here  comes  G. !  "  She  stepped  to 
the  window  and  there  was  G.  coming  up  the 
street  and  her  father  going  forward  to  meet  him 
exactly  as  she  had  seen  him  in  her  dream.  He 
had  just  arrived  from  the  West,  and  had  come  for 
the  very  purpose  indicated  by  his  conversation  in 
M.  L.'s  vision.  After  some  general  conversation 
M.  L.  said  to  G  ;  "  By  the  way,  who  was  that 
remarkable  person  you  were  talking  with  about 
this  journey,  three  weeks  ago?"  mentioning  the 
night  of  her  dream.  With  evident  surprise  he  said : 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  " 

She  then  related  the  whole  dream  just  as  she 


I08     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

had  experienced  it,  even  to  the  minutest  details. 
His  astonishment  was  profound.  He  declared 
that  the  details  which  she  gave  could  never  have 
been  so  exactly  described  except  by  some  one 
actually  present ;  and  with  some  annoyance  he 
accused  her  of  playing  the  spy. 

There  are  many  other  instances  of  remarkable 
clairvoyant  vision  on  her  part,  and  especially  two 
which  have  occurred  within  the  year — the  visions 
having  been  fully  described  before  the  events  were 
known. 

Such  are  a  few  among  hundreds  of  cases  which 
might  be  adduced  as  examples  of  the  clairvoyant 
power.  They  are  from  every  period  of  history, 
from  the  earliest  down  to  our  own  times. 
Looked  at  broadly,  they  at  least  show  that  a 
belief  in  the  clairvoyant  power  of  some  specially 
endowed  persons  has  existed  throughout  the  his- 
toric period ;  they  also  exhibit  a  great  similarity 
in  their  character  and  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  are  observed. 

Apollonius  stops  short  in  his  discourse,  ap- 
parently in  his  natural  state,  sees  the  assassination 
of  Domitian,  and  shouts,  "  Strike  the  tyrant !  " 

Fitzgerald  at  Brunswick  suddenly  beholds  the 
burning  factories  at  Fall  River,  and  shouts  his 
orders  to  the  firemen,  Others  spontaneously  go 


THE  NATURE  OF  CLAIRVOYANCE.  109 

into  the  somnambulic  condition  and  only  then 
become  clairvoyant ;  while  still  others  need  the 
assistance  of  a  second  person  to  produce  somnam- 
bulism and  independent  vision. 

What  is  the  nature  and  what  the  method  of 
this  peculiar  vision  which  has  been  named  clair- 
voyance ? 

Is  it  a  quickening  and  extension  of  ordinary 
vision,  or  is  it  a  visual  perception  obtained  in 
some  other  manner,  independent  of  the  natural 
organ  of  sight  ? 

It  has  been  noted  how  vastly  the  action  of  the 
senses  may  be  augmented  by  cultivation,  but 
never  has  cultivation  increased  vision  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  discover  a  penny  a  thousand  miles 
away  and  through  opaque  coverings.  Besides, 
the  clairvoyant  vision  is  exercised  quite  inde- 
pendent of  the  bodily  eye.  The  eyes  may  be 
closed,  they  may  be  turned  upward  or  inward  so 
that  no  portion  of  the  pupil  is  exposed  to  the 
action  of  light,  or  they  may  be  covered  with 
thick  pads  of  cotton  or  closed  with  plasters  or 
bandages,  yet  the  clairvoyant  vision  in  proper 
subjects  is  obtained  in  just  the  same  degree  and 
with  just  the  same  certainty  as  when  the  eyes 
are  fully  exposed  to  the  light. 

It  is  true  there  has  been  much  doubt  and  dis- 


HO     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

cussion  on  this  vital  point,  the  objectors  main- 
taining that  sight  was  possible  and  practicable  by 
experts,  notwithstanding  the  precautions  used  in 
blindfolding  ;  in  short,  that  the  whole  thing  might 
safely  be  set  down  as  deception  and  fraud. 

In  the  face  of  facts  such  as  are  here  cited,  and 
the  thousand  others  that  might  be  adduced, 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  treat  this  charge  seri- 
ously. 

To  such  objectors,  cumulative  evidence  regard- 
ing facts  out  of  their  own  mental  horizon  is 
useless.  Their  motto  is  :  "  No  amount  of  evidence 
can  establish  a  miracle ;  "  and  their  definition  of  a 
miracle  is  something  done,  or  alleged  to  have  been 
done,  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature.  But  the 
objector  who  refuses  credence  to  well-attested 
facts  on  that  ground  alone,  simply  assumes  that 
he  is  acquainted  with  all  the  laws  of  nature. 

A  miracle,  really,  is  only  something  alleged  to 
have  been  done,  and  we  are  not  able  to  explain 
how ;  nevertheless,  it  may  be  perfectly  in  accord- 
ance with  natural  laws  which  we  did  not  under- 
stand or  even  know  existed.  To  the  West  Indian, 
whom  Columbus  found  in  the  New  World,  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun  was  a  miracle  of  the  most 
terrible  character;  to  the  astronomer  it  was  a 
simple  fact  in  nature.  To  the  ignorant  boor, 


FABRIC  OF  THOUGHT  MAY  NEED  CHANGING,  in 

"  talking  with  Chicago  "  or  cabling  between  New 
York  and  London  is  a  miracle ;  to  the  electrician 
it  is  an  everyday,  well-understood  affair.  For  a 
long  time  scientific  men  did  not  believe  in  the 
existence  of  globular,  slowly-moving  electricity ; 
if  such  a  thing  had  existed,  it  certainly  should 
have  put  in  an  appearance  before  members  of  the 
"Academy,"  or  "  Royal  Society  "  sometime  in 
the  course  of  all  these  years ;  but  it  never  had 
done  so  ;  only  a  few  cooks,  blacksmiths,  or  back- 
woodsmen had  ever  seen  it,  and  they  certainly 
were  not  the  sort  of  people  to  report  scientific 
matter  ;  they  did  not  know  how  to  observe,  and 
undoubtedly  "  they  did  not  see  what  they  thought 
they  saw."  But  for  all  that,  globular,  slowly- 
moving  electricity  is  now  a  well  known  fact  in 
nature. 

Neither  the  West  Indian,  the  ignorant  boor,  nor 
the  man  of  science  had,  at  the  time  these  several 
facts  were  presented  to  him,  "  any  place  in  the 
existing  fabric  of  his  thought  into  which  such 
facts  could  be  fitted."  The  fabric  of  thought  in 
each  case  must  be  changed,  enlarged,  modified, 
before  the  alleged  facts  could  be  received  or 
assimilated. 

The  objector  to  the  fact  of  clairvoyance  and 
other  facts  in  the  new  psychology  is  often  simply 


112      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

deficient  in  the  knowledge  which  would  enable 
him  properly  to  judge  of  these  facts  ;  he  may  be 
an  excellent  mathematician,  physicist,  editor,  or 
even  physician,  but  he  has  been  educated  to  deal 
with  a  certain  class  of  facts,  and  only  by  certain 
methods,  and  he  is  wholly  unfitted  to  deal  with 
another  class  of  facts,  perhaps  requiring  quite  dif- 
ferent treatment. 

An  excellent  chemist  might  not  be  just  the 
man  to  analyze  questions  of  finance  or  to  testify 
as  an  expert  on  the  tariff,  or  a  suspension  bridge ; 
the  "  texture  of  his  thought  "  would  need  some 
modifying  to  fit  him  for  these  duties  ;  indeed,  he 
is  fortunate  if  he  can  even  be  quite  sure  of  mor- 
phia when  he  sees  it ;  it  might  be  a  ptomaine. 

If,  then,  the  objector  to  well  authenticated  facts 
in  any  department  of  research  expects  his  objec- 
tions to  be  seriously  considered,  he  must,  at  least, 
exhibit  some  intelligence  in  that  department  of 
research  to  which  his  objection  relates. 

I  shall  then  simply  reiterate  the  statement  that 
there  is  abundant  evidence  of  visual  perception 
by  some  specially  constituted  persons,  independ- 
ent of  any  use  of  the  physical  organ  of  sight. 

What  the  exact  nature  or  method  of  this  supra- 
normal  vision  is,  may  not  yet  be  absolutely  set- 
tled, any  more  than  the  exact  nature  of  light  or 


CLAIR  VO  YANCE  NOT  SUPERNA  TURAL.      1 13 

of  life  or  even  of  electricity  is  settled,  and  each  of 
their  various  methods  of  action  known,  though 
of  the  fact  itself  in  any  of  these  cases  there  is  no 
doubt. 

From  a  careful  consideration  of  the  best  authen- 
ticated facts  and  examples,  we  are  led  to  believe 
that  the  faculty  of  clairvoyance  is  no  supernatural 
gift,  but  may  be  possessed,  to  some  degree,  by 
many,  perhaps  by  all,  people ;  that  it  is  a  natural 
condition,  developed  and  brought  into  exercise 
by  a  few,  but  undeveloped  and  dormant  in  most ; 
that  the  faculty  may  include  not  only  the  power 
of  obtaining  visual  perceptions  at  a  distance  and 
under  circumstances  which  render  ordinary  vision 
impossible,  but  also  the  perception  of  general 
truth  and  the  relation  of  things  in  nature  to  such 
a  degree  as  to  render  the  person  who  possesses  it 
a  teacher  and  prophet  of  seemingly  supernatural 
endowments.  Carefully  excluding  cases  of  un- 
usual extension,  or  skill  in  using  normal  percept- 
ive faculties,  and  also  thought-transference,  which, 
although  bearing  a  certain  relation  to  clairvoy- 
ance, should  not  be  confounded  with  it,  the  phe- 
nomena of  independent  clairvoyance  appear  in 
certain  persons  under  the  following  conditions  : — 

In  certain  states,  brought  about  by  disease,  and 
at  the  near  approach  of  death,  in  the  hypnotic 


114     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

condition,  whether  self-induced  or  produced  by 
the  influence  of  a  second  person,  and  especially 
in  the  condition  known  as  trance  ;  it  may  also 
appear  in  sleep  of  the  ordinary  kind — in  dreams, 
and  especially  in  the  condition  of  reverie  or  the 
state  between  sleeping  and  waking  ;  a  few  persons 
also  possess  the  clairvoyant  faculty  while  in  their 
natural  condition,  without  losing  their  normal 
consciousness.  In  general  it  may  be  said  that 
the  faculty  is  most  likely  to  appear  when  there 
exists  a  condition  of  abstraction,  and  the  mind  is 
acting  without  the  restraint  and  guidance  of  the 
usual  consciousness — and  it  reaches  its  most  per- 
fect exercise  when  this  usual  guidance  ceases 
entirely — the  body  becoming  inactive  and  anaes- 
thetic and  the  mind  acting  independent  of  its 
usual  manifesting  organs.  Such  is  the  condition 
in  trance. 

This  view  is,  of  course,  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  materialistic  philosophy  which  makes  the 
mind  simply  a  "  group  of  phenomena,"  the  result 
of  organization,  and  absolutely  dependent  upon 
that  organization  for  its  action,  and  even  for  its 
existence.  To  discuss  this  question  here  would 
occupy  too  much  space  ;  besides,  one  of  the  ob- 
jects of  these  papers  is  to  show  this  mind,  spirit, 
psychos,  mentality,  "  group  of  phenomena,"  what- 


INDEPENDENT  ACTION  OF  THE  MIND.     115 

ever  it  may  be,  and  whatever  name  may  be  ap- 
plied to  it,  acting  under  circumstances  which  will 
enable  us  to  consider  with  greater  intelligence 
this  very  question,  viz.  :  Whether  the  mind, 
under  some  circumstances,  is  not  capable  of  intel- 
ligent action  independent  of  the  brain  and  the 
whole  material  organization  through  which  it 
ordinarily  manifests  itself. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DOUBLE   OR   MULTIPLEX    PERSONALITY. 

IF  there  be  any  one  thing  in  the  empirical  psy- 
chology of  the  past  which  has  been  considered 
settled  past  all  controversy,  it  is  the  unity  and 
continuity  of  human  personality.  Whatever 
might  be  believed  or  doubted  concerning  the 
after  life,  for  this  life  at  least  believers  and 
skeptics  alike  are  united  in  the  full  assurance  of 
a  true,  permanent,  and  unmistakable  self.  The 
philosopher  Reid,  a  hundred  years  ago,  in  discuss- 
ing this  subject,  wrote  as  follows : — 

"  My  thoughts  and  actions  and  feelings  change 
every  moment.  They  have  no  continued  but  a 
successive  existence,  but  that  self  or  I  to  which 
they  belong  is  permanent,  and  has  the  same  rela- 
tion to  all  succeeding  thoughts,  actions,  and  feel- 
ings which  I  call  mine.  The  identity  of  a  person 
is  perfect — it  admits  of  no  degrees — and  is  not 
divisible  into  parts." 

Now,  while  this  dogma,  which  still  expresses 
116 


F ELI  DA  X'S  TWO  SELVES.  117 

the  general  consensus  of  mankind,  may  in  a  sense 
be  well  founded,  still  certain  facts  have  been 
ascertained  by  the  observant  scouts  in  the  out- 
lying fields  of  psychology  which,  unless  they  can 
be  interpreted  to  mean  something  different  from 
their  seeming  and  obvious  import,  make  strongly 
against  that  stability  and  unquestioned  oneness 
of  human  personality  about  which  every  indi- 
vidual in  his  own  consciousness  may  feel  so  abso- 
lutely certain.  What  are  these  facts  which  have 
come  to  the  notice  of  students  of  psychology  ? 

The  case  of  Felida  X.,  reported  by  Dr.  Azam 
of  Bordeaux,  is  one  of  the  earliest  to  attract  the 
serious  attention  of  medical  men  and  students  of 
psychology,  and  has  become  classic  in  relation  to 
the  subject. 

She  was  a  nervous  child,  given  to  moody  spells 
and  'hysterical  attacks,  and,  in  1856,  when  she  was 
about  fourteen  years  of  age,  she  also  began  to 
have  more  serious  attacks  of  an  epileptiform  char- 
acter, from  which  she  would  emerge  into  a  new 
and  unusual  condition,  which  was  at  first  taken 
to  be  somnambulism.  In  this  condition  her 
general  appearance  was  quite  changed,  and  she 
talked  and  acted  in  a  manner  altogether  different 
from  her  usual  self.  These  attacks  were  at  first 
very  brief,  lasting  only  a  few  minutes,  but  gradu- 


Ii8     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

ally  they  increased  in  duration  until  they  occupied 
hours,  and  even  days. 

In  her  usual  state  she  had  no  recollection  and 
no  knowledge  whatever  of  her  second  condition, 
and  the  whole  time  spent  in  that  condition  was  to 
her  a  blank  ;  on  the  other  hand,  all  the  different 
occasions  when  she  had  been  in  this  second  con- 
dition were  linked  together,  constituting  a  distinct 
chain  of  memories  and  a  personality  just  as  con- 
sciously distinct  and  conspicuous  as  her  original 
self.  In  her  second  state  she  not  only  had  the 
distinct  memories  connected  with  her  own  second- 
ary personality,  but  she  also  knew  facts  concern- 
ing the  first  or  original  self,  but  only  as  she  might 
have  knowledge  of  any  other  person. 

The  two  personalities  were  entirely  different  in 
character  and  disposition  ;  the  original  one  was 
sickly,  indolent,  and  melancholy,  while  the  new 
one  was  in  good  health,  and  in  disposition  bright, 
cheerful,  and  industrious.  She  married  early  in 
life,  and  was  intelligent  and  efficient  in  the  care  of 
her  family,  rearing  children  and  attending  to  the 
little  business  of  a  shop.  At  length  this  second- 
ary self  came  to  occupy  nearly  the  whole  time, 
and  considered  herself  the  normal  personality,  as, 
indeed,  she  was,  being  superior  in  every  way  to 
the  original  one.  She  knew  very  well  how  un- 


THE  CURIOUS  CASE  OF  ANSEL  BOURNE.    119 

happy  and  miserable  was  the  condition  of  the 
primary  self,  and,  while  she  pitied  her  and  did 
what  she  could  to  assist  her,  she  disliked  to  have 
her  return.  She  called  the  condition  of  the 
primary  self,  "  that  stupid  state." 

The  lapses  of  the  original  or  No.  I  personality 
became  at  length  so  frequent,  or  rather,  so  con- 
tinuous, that  she  lost  the  proper  knowledge  and 
relation  of  things  about  her.  She  was  a  stranger 
in  her  own  home,  and  on  that  account  became 
still  more  morose  and  melancholy.  To  relieve  as 
much  as  possible  this  distressing  state  of  affairs 
the  second  self,  or  No.  2,  when  she  knew  that  No. 
I  was  about  to  appear,  would  write  her  a  letter, 
informing  her  of  the  general  condition  of  the 
household,  whom  she  might  expect  to  meet,  and 
where  she  would  find  certain  needful  articles ;  she 
would  also  offer  advice  regarding  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  which  was  always  appropriate  and  useful 
and  far  superior  to  the  judgment  of  the  original 
self  in  the  matters  to  which  it  referred. 

As  a  second  well  marked  and  abundantly 
authenticated  example  of  this  divided  or  second- 
ary personality,  I  will  refer  to  a  case  in  our  own 
country  and  in  our  own  vicinity. 

Jan.  1 7th,  1887,  Ansel  Bourne,  an  evangelist, 
left  his  home  in  Rhode  Island,  and,  after  trans- 


120     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

acting  some  business  in  Providence,  one  item  of 
which  was  to  draw  some  money  to  pay  for  a  farm 
for  which  he  had  bargained,  he  went  to  Boston, 
then  to  New  York,  then  to  Philadelphia,  and, 
finally,  to  Norristown,  Penn.,  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  from  Philadelphia,  where  he  opened  a  small 
store  for  the  sale  of  stationery,  confectionery,  and 
five-cent  articles.  In  this  business  he  was  known 
as  A.  J.  Brown.  He  lived  in  a  room  partitioned 
off  from  the  back  of  the  store,  eating,  sleeping, 
and  doing  his  own  cooking  there.  He  rented  the 
store  from  a  Mr.  Earl,  who  also,  with  his  family, 
lived  in  the  building.  Mr.  Brown  went  back  and 
forth  to  Philadelphia  for  goods  to  keep  up  his 
stock,  and  seems  to  have  conducted  his  business 
as  if  accustomed  to  it. 

Sunday,  March  I3th,  he  went  to  church,  and  at 
night  went  to  bed  as  usual.  On  Monday,  March 
I4th,  about  5  o'clock  in  the  morning,  he  awoke 
and  found  himself  in  what  appeared  to  him  an 
altogether  new  and  strange  place ;  he  thought  he 
must  have  broken  into  the  place,  and  was  much 
troubled,  fearing  arrest.  Finally,  after  waiting 
two  hours  in  great  uneasiness  of  mind,  he  got  up 
and  found  the  door  locked  on  the  inside.  He 
went  out  into  the  hall,  and,  hearing  some  one 
moving  about,  he  rapped  at  the  door,  Mr,  Earl, 


MR.  A.J.  BROWN  IS  ALSO  ANSEL  BOURNE.  121 

his  landlord,  opened  it,  and  said :  "  Good-morn- 
ing, Mr.  Brown." 

"  Where  am  I  ?  "  said  Mr.  Brown. 

"  You  are  all  right,"  replied  Mr.  Earl. 

"  I'm  all  wrong,  and  my  name  is  not  Brown. 
Where  am  I?" 

"  You  are  in  Norristown." 

"  Where  is  Norristown  ?  " 

"  In  Pennsylvania,  about  seventeen  miles  west 
of  Philadelphia." 

"What  day  of  the  month  is  it?"  inquired 
Mr.  Brown. 

"  The  I4th,"  replied  Mr.  Earl. 

"  Does  time  run  backward  here  ?  When  I  left 
home  it  was  the  i/th." 

"  Seventeenth  of  what  ?  "  said  Mr.  Earl. 

"  Seventeenth  of  January." 

"  Now  it  is  the  I4th  of  March,"  said  Mr.  Earl. 

Mr.  Earl  thought  Mr.  Brown  was  out  of  his 
mind,  and  sent  for  a  physician.  To  the  doctor 
he  said  his  name  was  Ansel  Bourne ;  that  he 
remembered  seeing  the  Adams  Express  wagons 
on  Dorrance  Street  in  Providence  on  Jan.  i/th, 
and  remembered  nothing  since,  until  he  awoke 
here  this  morning,  March  I4th. 

"  These  people,"  said  he,  "  tell  me  that  I  have 
been  here  six  weeks,  and  have  been  living  with 


122     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

them  all  this  time  ;  I  have  no  recollection  of  ever 
having  seen  one  of  them,  until  this  morning." 

His  nephew,  Mr.  H.,  was  telegraphed  to  in 
Providence. 

"  Do  you  know  Ansel  Bourne?  " 

Reply :  "  He  is  my  uncle ;  wire  me  where  he 
is,  and  if  well." 

Mr.  H.,  went  on  to  Norristown,  took  charge  of 
his  uncle  and  his  affairs,  sold  out  his  store  prop- 
erty, and  Mr.  A.  J.  Brown  went  back  and  resumed 
his  life  in  Rhode  Island  as  Ansel  Bourne,  but  the 
time  from  Jan.  i/th  to  March  I4th  was  to  him  a 
blank. 

Prof.  James  of  Harvard  and  Dr.  Hodgson, 
Secretary  of  the  American  Branch  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research,  who  reported  this  case  to 
the  society,  now  became  interested  in  the  matter. 
They  went  to  see  Ansel  Bourne  and  learned  the 
above  history ;  but  of  the  journey  from  Provi- 
dence to  Norristown  in  January  no  account  of  any 
kind  could  be  obtained.  Finally,  he  was  put  into 
the  hypnotic  condition,  when  he  was  again  A.  J. 
Brown,  and  gave  a  connected  account  of  his 
journey  to  Boston,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and 
of  his  stay  in  each  of  these  cities ;  of  his  arrival 
at  Norristown,  and  of  his  experience  there  up  to 
the  morning  of  March  I4th,  when  everything 


ANSEL  BOURNE  HYPNOTIZED  IS  A.  J.  BROWN.  123 

was  again  confused.  As  A.  J.  Brown  he  knew  of 
Ansel  Bourne  and  of  his  remarkable  history,  but 
could  not  state  positively  that  he  had  ever  met 
him. 

This  transition  was  repeatedly  made.  Imme- 
diately on  being  put  in  the  hypnotic  trance  and 
aroused  to  somnambulism  he  was  A.  J.  Brown,  a 
distinct  personality,  perfectly  sane,  and  with  a  full 
appreciation  of  the  relation  of  things  as  relating 
to  that  personality,  and  with  a  distinct  chain  of 
memories,  beliefs,  and  affections ;  but,  when  in- 
troduced to  the  wife  of  Ansel  Bourne,  he  entirely 
repudiated  the  idea  of  her  ever  having  been  his 
wife,  though  he  might  some  time  have  seen  her. 

Immediately  on  being  awakened  from  this  hyp- 
notic condition  he  was  Ansel  Bourne,  with  his 
usual  consciousness,  beliefs,  affections,  and  chain 
of  memories ;  but  the  primary  Ansel  Bourne  per- 
sonality had  no  knowledge  whatever  of  the  sec- 
ondary, or  A.  J.  Brown,  personality,  and  for  any 
act,  either  criminal  or  righteous,  committed  by 
the  person  A.  J.  Brown,  the  person  Ansel  Bourne 
had  no  more  knowledge  and  consequently  no 
more  responsibility  than  for  any  good  or  "bad 
action  committed  by  a  person  in  Australia  and  of 
whose  existence  he  was  ignorant. 

A  few  other  cases  quite  similar  and  in  every 


124     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF 

respect  of  equal  interest  have  been  observed,  not- 
ably that  known  as  Louis  V.,  which  was  reported 
by  Dr.  Voisin  of  Paris  and  by  several  other  well- 
known  French  physicians,  under  whose  care  from 
time  to  time  he  has  been,  and  whose  several 
reports  have  been  summed  up  by  Mr.  Frederick 
W.  H.  Myers,  the  efficient  London  Secretary  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research. 

Here  the  stability  of  personality  was  unsettled 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  by  a  terrible  fright  from  a 
viper.  Four  or  five  distinct  personalities  were 
represented. 

(1)  In  his  childhood,  previous  to  his  fright  by 
the  viper,  he  had  good  health  and  was  an  ordi- 
nary, quiet,  obedient,  well-behaved  boy. 

(2)  A  new  personality,  of  which  the  primary  self 
had  no  knowledge,  was  induced  by  the  fright. 
This  No.  2  personality  had  frequent  epileptic  at- 
tacks, but  was  able  to  work,  learning  the  trade  of 
a  tailor. 

(3)  After  one  of  these  attacks  of  great  violence, 
lasting  fifty  hours,  another  personality  came  to 
the    surface — a     greedy,     violent,     quarrelsome, 
drunken,  thievish  vagabond,  paralyzed    on    one 
side,  and  with  an  impediment  in  his  speech.     He 
was  an  anarchist,  an  atheist,    and  a  blackguard, 
always  ranting  and  thrusting  his  opinions  upon 


LOUIS  V'S  DIFFERENT  PERSONALITIES.     125 

those  about  him,  perpetrating  bad  jokes,  and  prac- 
ticing disgusting  familiarities  with  his  physicians 
and  attendants.  In  this  state,  he  knows  nothing  of 
the  tailor's  business,  but  he  is  a  private  of  marines. 

(4)  He  is  a  quiet,  sensible  man,  retiring  in  be- 
havior and  modest  in  speech.     If  he  is  asked  his 
opinions  upon  politics  or  religion,  he  bashfully 
replies  that  he  would   rather  leave    such   things 
to  wiser  heads  than  his.     In  this  condition  he  is 
without  paralysis  and  speaks  distinctly. 

(5)  As  a  man  forty  years  of  age  he  returns  to  the 
condition  of  childhood  previous  to  his  fright — a 
child  in  intellect  and  knowledge,  having  no  oc- 
cupation ;  he  is  simply  an  ordinary,  quiet,  well- 
behaved,  obedient  boy. 

Each  of  these  personalities  was  distinct  from 
all  the  others ;  the  earlier  ones  had  no  knowledge 
of  those  which  came  after  them  ;  the  later  ones  had 
a  knowledge  of  the  earlier  ones,  but  only  as  they 
might  have  knowledge  of  any  other  person. 

A  fourth  typical  case  is  that  of  Alma  Z.,  re- 
cently reported  by  me  for  The  Journal  of  Nervous 
and  Mental  Diseases.  In  this  case,  an  unusually 
healthy,  strongly  intellectual  girl,  an  expert  in 
athletic  sport  and  a  leader  wherever  she  might  be, 
on  account  of  overwork,  and  finally,  of  broken- 
down  health,  developed  a  second,  and,  later,  a 


126      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

third  personality.  Each  was  widely  different  from 
the  others,  all  were  normal  so  far  as  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  and  adaptation  to  their  surroundings 
were  concerned,  and  all  were  of  unusual  intellect- 
ual force  and  brightness,  as  well  as  moral  worth  ; 
but  each  was  distinct,  peculiar,  and  even  in 
marked  contrast  to  the  others  in  many  important 
characteristics.  No.  I  had  no  knowledge  of  No. 
2  nor  of  No.  3,  except  from  circumstances  and  the 
report  of  others,  and  also  from  letters  which 
passed  between  them  giving  information  to  No. 
i  regarding  changes  which  had  occurred  in  her 
absence,  as,  for  instance,  of  expected  company  or 
other  engagement  which  it  would  be  important 
for  her  to  know. 

Both  of  the  later  personalities  were  peculiarly 
fond  of  No.  I,  and  devoted  to  her  welfare  on  ac- 
count of  her  superior  knowledge  and  admirable 
character.  The  case  has  been  under  my  observa- 
tion, both  professionally  and  socially,  for  many 
years,  and,  in  addition  to  its  typical  character,  it 
presented  an  example  of  the  singular  fact  of  the 
persistence  of  the  later  personality,  with  the  abil- 
ity to  observe,  retain  its  chain  of  memories,  and 
afterward  report  them,  while  the  primary  self  was 
at  the  same  time  the  dominant  and  active  person- 
ality. 


CAME  FOR  HER  FAVORITE  CONCERTO.      127 

An  instance  of  this  occurred  at  one  of  the  con- 
certs of  a  distinguished  pianist  a  few  years  since. 
No.  3  was  the  reigning  personality,  and  she  was 
herself  a  lover  of  music  and  an  excellent  critic. 
Beethoven's  concerto  in  C  major  was  on  the  pro- 
gramme, and  was  being  performed  in  a  most 
charming  manner  by  soloist  and  orchestra.  I  was 
sitting  near  her  in  the  box,  when  all  at  once  I 
noticed  a  change  in  the  expression  of  her  face, 
which  denoted  the  presence  of  No.  I.  She  list- 
ened with  intense  interest  and  pleasure  to  the 
performance,  and  at  its  close  I  spoke  a  few  words 
to  her,  and  she  replied  in  her  usual  charming  man- 
ner. It  was  No.  I  without  doubt.  Soon  after, 
she  leaned  back  in  her  chair,  took  two  or  three 
quick,  short  inspirations,  and  No.  3  was  present 
again.  She  turned  to  me  smiling  and  said : 

"  So  No.  i  came  for  her  favorite  concerto; 
wasn't  it  splendid  that  she  could  hear  it?" 

I  said  :  "  Yes ;  but  how  did  you  know  she  was 
here?" 

"  Oh,  I  sat  on  the  front  of  the  box,"  she  said. 
"  I  heard  the  music,  too,  and  I  saw  you  speaking 
to  her." 

The  four  cases  here  briefly  outlined  represent 
both  sexes,  two  distinct  nationalities,  and  widely- 
varying  conditions  in  life.  In  each  case  one  or 


128     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

more  personalities  crop  out,  so  to  speak,  come  to 
the  surface,  and  become  the  conscious,  active, 
ruling  personality,  distinct  from  the  original  self, 
having  entirely  different  mental,  moral,  and  even 
physical,  characteristics ;  different  tastes,  and  dif- 
ferent sentiments  and  opinions ;  personalities  en- 
tirely unknown  to  the  original  self,  which  no  one 
acquainted  with  that  original  self  had  any  reason 
to  suppose  existed  in  connection  with  that  organi- 
zation. 

The  cases  present  so  many  points  of  similarity 
in  their  history  as  to  render  it  probable,  if  not 
certain,  that  some  common  principle,  law,  or 
mental  state  underlies  them  all — some  law  which, 
if  clearly  defined,  would  be  valuable  in  reducing 
to  order  the  seemingly  lawless  mass  of  phenomena 
which  constantly  meets  'us  in  this  new  and  but 
little  explored  field  of  research. 

It  may  be,  also,  that  other  mental  states  more 
frequently  met  with  and  more  easily  observed 
present  points  in  common  with  these  more  strik- 
ing and  unusual  ones  ;  and  that  they  also  may 
assist  us  in  finding  the  clue. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

NATURAL  SOMNAMBULISM — HYPNOTIC   SOMNAM- 
BULISM— DREAMS. 

THE  first  of  these  more  accessible  conditions  to 
claim  attention  is  natural  somnambulism,  or  sleep- 
walking. The  phenomena  of  this  peculiar  state 
have  been  observed  from  time  immemorial,  and 
have  always  been  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  and  interesting  subjects  in  the  domain 
of  the  old  psychology. 

In  this  state  the  subject,  while  apparently  in 
ordinary  sleep,  arises  from  his  bed  and  proceeds, 
sometimes  to  perform  the  most  ordinary,  every- 
day actions — cooking  a  dinner,  washing  clothes, 
sawing  wood,  or  going  out  to  a  neighboring 
market  town  to  transact  business  ;  sometimes,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  does  the  most  unusual  things ; 
he  performs  perilous  journeys  in  dangerous  and 
unfamiliar  places  in  perfect  safety  and  with  un- 
usual ease ;  sometimes  intellectual  work  of  a  dif- 
ficult nature,  such  as  had  baffled  the  student  in 
9  129 


130     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

his  waking  hours,  is  easily  accomplished,  and  he 
finds  the  solution  of  his  mathematical  problem  or 
the  needed  point  in  his  argument  all  plainly 
wrought  out  and  prepared  for  him  when  he  goes 
to  his  desk  the  following  morning ;  moreover,  if 
the  work  from  any  cause  should  be  interrupted, 
and  the  same  conditions  recur  upon  the  follow- 
ing or  some  subsequent  night,  it  may  be  re- 
sumed at  the  point  where  it  was  interrupted  ;  or 
if  the  somnambulist  talks,  as  well  as  acts,  in  his 
sleep  the  conversation  shows  that  each  succeed- 
ing occasion  is  connected  with  previous  ones,  all 
together  constituting  a  chain  of  memories  similar 
to  that  of  the  different  personalities  which  have 
been  presented  in  the  four  cases  already  described. 

Sometimes  all  these  different  actions  are  ac- 
complished without  light  or  with  the  eyes  fast 
closed,  or  else  open  and  staring,  but  without 
vision.  Sometimes,  however,  the  new  personality 
developed  in  the  sleep  of  the  somnambulist  fails 
to  come  into  proper  relations  with  his  surround- 
ings, when  he  may  also  fail  to  accomplish  the 
dangerous  journey,  and  may  walk  from  an  open 
window  or  an  unguarded  balcony  with  disastrous 
results. 

The  second  condition  which  presents  analogies 
to  the  duplex  or  multiplex  pesonalities,  which 


MADAME  B>S  HYPNOTIC  PERSONALITIES.  131 

are  under  consideration,  is  that  of  the  somnam- 
bulism which  occurs  in  the  hypnotic  sleep. 
While  usually  the  hypnotic  subject  is  passive  and 
unconsciously  receives  the  suggestions  which  are 
impressed  upon  him,  not  unfrequently  a  person- 
ality comes  to  the  front  which  acts  independently, 
and  presents  all  the  characteristics  which  we  have 
found  pertaining  to  a  distinct  personality. 

A  rare  example  of  this  alternating  personality 
brought  about  by  hypnotism  is  afforded  by  the 
French  subject,  Mme.  B.,  whose  acquaintance  we 
have  already  made  as  a  subject  upon  whom  hyp- 
notism at  a  distance  was  successfully  carried  out 
by  Prof.  Janet  and  Dr.  Gibert  of  Havre.  As  we 
have  already  seen,  in  her  ordinary  condition  Mme. 
B.  is  a  stolid,  substantial,  honest  French  peasant, 
about  forty  years  of  age,  of  very  moderate  intelli- 
gence, and  without  any  education  or  any  am- 
bition for  notoriety.  In  this  state  Prof.  Janet 
calls  her  L£onie. 

Hypnotized,  she  is  at  once  changed  into  a 
bright,  vivacious,  mischief-loving,  rather  noisy 
personality,  who  considers  herself  on  excellent 
terms  with  the  doctor,  and  whom  the  professor 
names  L£ontine.  Later,  by  further  hypnotiza- 
tion  and  a  deeper  trance,  there  appears  a  sedate, 
sensible  personality,  intellectually  much  superior 


132     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

to  L£onie,  the  primary  self,  and  much  more  digni- 
fied than  the  vivacious  Leontine,  and  this  third 
personality  Prof.  Janet  calls  Leonore. 

Leontine,  the  hypnotic  or  second  self,  knows 
L£onie,  the  original  Mme.  B.,  very  well,  and  is 
very  anxious  not  to  be  confounded  with  her.  She 
always  calls  her  "  the  other  one,"  and  laughs  at 
her  stupidity.  She  says,  "  That  good  woman  is 
not  I,  she  is  too  stupid."  One  day  Prof.  Janet 
hypnotized  L£onie,  and  as  usual  at  once  L£on- 
tine  was  present.  Prof.  Janet  then  suggested  to 
Leontine  that  when  she  awoke  and  L£onie  had 
resumed  the  command,  she  (Leontine)  should 
take  off  the  apron  of  Leonie,  their  common  apron, 
on  their  one  physical  personality,  and  then  tie  it  on 
again.  She  was  then  aroused  from  her  hypnotic 
condition,  and  at  once  L£onie  was  present  without 
the  slightest  knowledge  of  Leontine,  for  she 
never  knew  of  this  second  personality,  nor  of  hyp- 
notic suggestion  in  any  form.  Leonie,  supposing 
the  professor's  experiment  was  over,  was  conduct- 
ing him  to  the  door,  talking  indifferently  in  her 
slow,  dull  way,  and  at  the  same  time  unconsciously 
her  fingers  were  working  at  her  apron-strings. 
The  loosened  apron  was  falling  off  when  the  pro- 
fessor called  her  attention  to  it.  She  exclaimed, 
"Why,  my  apron  is  falling  off!"  and  then,  fully 


INDEPENDENT  OF  THE  PRIMARY  SELF.     133 

conscious  of  what  she  was  doing,  she  replaced  and 
tied  it  on  again.  She  then  continued  her  talk. 
She  only  supposed  that  somehow  accidentally  the 
apron  had  come  untied  and  she  had  retied  it,  and 
that  was  all. 

To  the  now  submerged  Leontine,  however,  this 
was  not  enough  ;  her  mission  had  not  been  com- 
pleted, and  at  her  silent  prompting  L6onie  again 
fumbled  at  the  apron-strings ;  unconsciously  she 
untied  and  took  off  the  apron,  and  then  put  it  on 
again  without  her  attention  having  been  drawn 
to  what  she  had  now  the  second  time  done.  The 
next  day  Prof.  Janet  again  hypnotized  Le'onie 
and  Leontine  made  her  appearance. 

"  Well,"  said  she,  "  I  did  what  you  told  me  yes- 
terday. How  stupid  '  the  other  one  '  looked  while 
I  took  her  apron  off !  Why  did  you  tell  her  that 
her  apron  was  falling  off?  Just  for  that,  I  had  to 
do  the  job  all  over  again." 

Here  the  hypnotic  or  secondary  self,  as  in  my 
own  reported  case,  appears  as  a  persistent  entity, 
remembering  and  reasoning,  while  the  primary 
self  was  at  the  same  time  in  command  of  their 
common  body.  L6ontine  not  only  caused  L£onie 
to  untie  and  retie  her  apron,  but  she  enjoyed  the 
fun,  remembered  it,  and  told  it  the  next  day. 

Again  L£onore  was  as  much  ashamed  of  Le"on- 


134     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

tine's  flippancy  as  Le"ontine  was  of  L£onie's  stu- 
pidity. 

"  You  see  well  enough,"  she  said,  "  that  I  am 
not  that  prattler,  that  madcap.  We  do  not  re- 
semble each  other  in  the  least." 

In  fact,  she  sometimes  gave  Le"ontine  good 
counsel  in  regard  to  her  behavior,  and  in  a  pecul- 
iar manner — by  producing  the  hallucination  of 
hearing  a  voice,  thus  again  showing  the  conscious 
activity  of  the  submerged  self  while  a  primary 
self  was  at  the  same  time  dominant  and  active. 
As  Dr.  Janet  relates  the  incident,  Le"ontine  was 
one  day  in  an  excited,  hysterical  condition,  noisy 
and  troublesome  with  her  chatter,  when  suddenly 
she  stopped  her  senseless  talk  and  cried  out  with 
terror : 

"  Oh  !     Who  is  it  there  talking  to  me  like  that  ?  " 

"  No  one  was  speaking  to  you." 

"  Yes,  there  on  the  left."  And  she  opened  a 
closet  door  in  the  direction  indicated,  to  see  that 
no  one  was  hidden  there. 

"  What  is  it  that  you  hear  ? "  asked  the  pro- 
fessor. 

"  I  hear  a  voice  on  the  left  there  which  keeps 
saying  to  me :  '  Enough,  enough ;  be  quiet.  You 
are  a  nuisance  !  '"  which,  the  professor  remarks, 
was  exactly  the  truth. 


THEY  ARE  INDEPENDENT  OF  EACH  OTHER.    135 

L£onore,  in  her  turn,  was  then  brought  to  the 
surface. 

"  What  was  it  that  happened,"  asked  Prof. 
Janet,  "  when  L£ontine  was  so  frightened  ?  " 

"  Oh,  nothing,"  she  replied.  "  I  told  her  she 
was  a  nuisance  and  to  keep  quiet.  I  saw  she  was 
annoying  you.  I  don't  know  why  she  was  so 
frightened." 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  mentioning  one  other 
fact  regarding  the  relationship  of  these  singular 
personalities,  because  it  illustrates  more  pointedly 
if  possible  than  anything  else  their  entire  duplex 
and  separate  character.  L£onie  or  Madame  B.  is 
married,  but  Le"ontine  is  not.  Madame  B.  how- 
ever, was  hypnotized  at  her  accouchements,  and 
became  L6ontine.  So  Le'ontine  was  the  presiding 
personality  when  the  children  were  born.  L£on- 
tine  therefore  considers  herself  the  mother  of 
two  children,  and  would  be  greatly  grieved  were 
any  doubts  expressed  regarding  her  right  of 
motherhood  in  them. 

The  analogies  between  the  mental  conditions 
presented  respectively  in  ordinary  somnambulism 
and  the  somnambulism  of  the  hypnotic  trance, 
and  the  mental  conditions  presented  in  the  four 
cases  previously  recited  are  numerous  and  ob- 
vious ;  in  fact,  they  seem  as  indeed  they  are,  like 


136     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

the  same  conditions  differently  produced  and 
varying  in  the  length  of  time  they  occupy,  and  it 
is  evident  that  in  them  there  is  brought  to  view  a 
mental  state  of  sufficient  uniformity,  as  well  as  of 
sufficient  interest  and  importance,  to  be  worthy  of 
serious  consideration. 

The  facts  thus  far  brought  into  view  are  these : 
That  in  a  considerable  number  of  persons  there 
may  be  developed,  either  spontaneously  or  artifi- 
cially, a  second  personality  different  in  character 
and  distinct  in  its  consciousness  and  memories 
from  the  primary  or  original  self ;  that  this  second 
personality  is  not  a  mere  change  of  conscious- 
ness, but  m  some  sense  it  is  a  different  entity, 
having  a  power  of  observation,  attention  and 
memory  not  only  when  the  primary  self  is  sub- 
merged and  without  consciousness  or  volition,  but 
also  at  the  same  time  that  the  primary  self  is  in 
action,  performing  its  usual  offices,  and  in  its  turn 
it  is  equally  capable  of  managing  the  affairs  and 
performing  the  offices  properly  pertaining  to  the 
common  body  whenever  needed  for  that  purpose. 

Reckoning  these  different  personalities  as  No.  I, 
No.  2,  No.  3,  etc.,  No.  i  has  no  knowledge  of  No. 
2,  nor  of  any  succeeding  personality,  nor  of  their 
acts,  but  the  time  occupied  by  them  is  to  No.  I  a 
blank,  during  which  it  is  without  volition,  mem- 


SEPARATE  AND  DISTINCT  PERSONALITIES.  137 

ory,  or  consciousness.  No.  2  has  a  distinct  con- 
sciousness and  chain  of  memories  of  its  own,  but 
it  also  knows  more  or  less  perfectly  the  history 
and  acts  of  No.  I — it  knows  this  history,  how- 
ever, only  as  pertaining  to  a  third  person  ;  it 
knows  nothing  of  No.  3,  nor  of  any  personality 
subsequently  coming  into  activity.  No.  3  has 
also  its  distinct  personality,  and  knows  both  No. 
i  and  No.  2,  but  knows  them  only  as  separate  and 
distinct  personalities  ;  it  does  not  know  any  per- 
sonality coming  into  activity  after  itself. 

So  distinct  are  these  personalities  that  No.  2 
not  only  may  not  possess  the  acquirements,  as, 
for  instance,  the  book  knowledge,  trade,  or  occu- 
pation of  No.  i,  but  may  possess  other  capabili- 
ties and  acquirements  entirely  foreign  to  No.  I, 
and  of  which  it  possessed  no  knowledge. 

Ansel  Bourne  was  a  farmer  and  preacher,  and 
knew  nothing  of  storekeeping.  A.  J.  Brown,  the 
second  personality,  was  a  business  man,  neither 
farmer  nor  preacher.  Louis  V.,  as  No.  2,  was  a 
tailor,  and  a  very  good  boy  ;  as  No.  3,  he  was  a 
private  of  marines,  and  knew  nothing  of  tailor- 
ing, and  he  was  a  moral  monster ;  while,  in  what 
might  be  called  his  No.  5  condition,  he  was  again 
an  undeveloped  child,  as  he  was  before  his  fright. 

Still  another  fact  which  comes  prominently  into 


138     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

view  in  examining  these  cases  is  that  the  No.  2 
personality  may  not,  by  any  means,  be  inferior  to 
the  No.  I,  or  original  self.  In  none  of  the  cases 
cited  has  the  intellectual  capacity  of  the  later 
developed  personality  been  inferior  to  that  of  the 
original  self,  and  generally  it  was  notably  superior  ; 
only  in  the  No.  3  personality  of  Louis  V.  was  the 
moral  state  worse  than  in  No.  I,  and,  in  general, 
the  moral  standing  of  No.  2  or  No.  3  was  fully 
equal  to  the  primary  self. 

The  emergence  and  dominance  of  a  secondary 
personality,  therefore,  does  not  by  any  means 
imply  that  the  general  standing  of  the  individual 
dominated  by  this  second  personality,  as  judged 
by  disinterested  observers,  is  in  any  way  inferior 
to  the  same  individual  dominated  by  the  primary 
self,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  superior  personality 
is  rather  to  be  expected,  and  especially  is  this 
true  when  the  secondary  personality  is  intelli- 
gently sought  and  brought  to  view  by  means  of 
hypnotism. 

It  is,  however,  quite  impossible  by  any  a  priori 
reasoning,  or  from  the  character  of  the  primary 
self,  to  form  any  definite  estimate  concerning  the 
character  or  general  characteristics  of  any  new 
personality  which  may  make  its  appearance,  either 
spontaneously  or  through  the  aid  of  hypnotism. 


GENERAL  CONSIDERATIONS.  139 

Having  become  to  a  certain  degree  familiarized 
with  the  idea  that  in  some  persons,  at  least,  and 
under  some  peculiar  circumstances,  a  second  per- 
sonality may  come  to  the  surface  and  take  the 
place  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time  of  the  primary 
self,  it  may  be  asked  whether,  after  all,  these  com- 
paratively few  persons  in  which  this  unusual 
phenomena  has  been  observed  are  essentially  dif- 
ferent in  their  mental  constitution  from  other 
people. 

When  those  best  acquainted  with  the  slender 
and  melancholy  Felida  X.,  or  the  ordinary,  quiet, 
well-behaved  Louis  V.  ;  the  industrious  and  re- 
spected evangelist  Ansel  Bourne,  or  the  large- 
brained,  intellectual  leader  of  women,  Alma  Z., 
saw  them  in  their  ordinary  state,  before  any 
subliminal  personality  had  emerged  and  made 
itself  known,  no  one  of  those  most  intimate  ac- 
quaintances, no  expert  in  character-reading,  no 
student  of  mental  science  could  have  given  any 
reasonable  intimation  that  any  one  of  them 
would  develop  a  second  personality,  much  less 
give  any  trustworthy  opinion  as  to  the  character 
which  the  new  personality  would  possess. 

A  few  months  ago  I  was  called  in  haste  to  see  a 
patient,  a  large,  strong  man  of  one  hundred  and 
eighty  pounds  weight,  who  had  been  thrown  down 


140     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 

and  trampled  upon  by  his  nineteen-year-old  son  dur- 
ing an  attack  of  somnambulism,  and  had  received 
such  serious  injuries  as  to  require  immediate  sur- 
gicalaid.  The  next  day  this  son  came  to  consult  me 
regarding  his  unfortunate  habit  of  sleep-walking, 
which  has  often  got  him  into  trouble  before,  and 
has  now  resulted  in  serious  injury  to  his  father. 
He  is  a  slight  youth  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  weight,  light  hair,  gray  eyes,  and  a  bright, 
frank  face,  expressive  of  good  health  and  good 
nature — "  a  perfect  gentleman,"  as  his  father  ex- 
pressed it,  "  when  himself,  but  ten  men  cannot 
manage  him  when  he  gets  up  in  his  sleep  ;  he 
will  do  what  he  sets  out  to  do." 

Who  would  ever  imagine  that  this  slender, 
good-natured,  gentlemanly  lad,  sooner  than  any 
other  lad,  would  in  his  sleep  develop  somnam- 
bulism and  a  second  personality,  or  that  when  it 
came  that  second  personality  should  prove  a  stub- 
born Samson? 

Little  could  Prof.  Janet  imagine  that  beneath 
the  surface  consciousness  of  that  serene  and 
stupid  L£onie  dwelt  the  frisky,  vivacious,  fun- 
loving  L6ontine,  waiting  only  the  magic  key  of 
hypnotism  to  unlock  and  bring  her  to  the  surface 
to  reign  instead  of  the  heavy  L£onie. 

The    people   who,    in   various    ways,    develop 


DOUBLE  PERSONALITY  IN  DREAMING.     1 4 1 

second  personalities  may  not  differ,  it  seems,  in 
any  perceptible  manner  from  other  people  ;  is  it 
not  quite  possible,  then,  that  other  normal,  ordi- 
nary people,  possess  a  second  personality,  deep- 
down  beneath  their  ordinary,  everyday  self,  and 
that  under  conditions  which  favor  a  readjustment, 
this  hidden  subliminal  self  may  emerge  and  be- 
come for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  time  the  conscious, 
acting  one  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  may  prove  to  be 
the  brighter  and  better  organized  of  the  two? 

Having  now,  as  it  were,  a  chart,  imperfect 
though  it  be,  of  this  outlying  region,  having  some 
idea  what  to  look  for,  and  in  what  direction  to 
look  for  it,  it  is  possible  that  glimpses  of  this 
subliminal  personality  which  each  one  uncon- 
sciously carries  with  him  may  be  obtained  under 
ordinary  conditions  and  in  everyday  life,  more 
frequently  and  more  easily  than  we  had  imagined  ; 
for,  as  Ribot  expresses  it,  the  ordinary  conscious 
personality  is  only  a  feeble  portion  of  the  whole 
psychical  personality. 

One  example  of  this  more  usual  form  of  double 
personality  is  afforded  in  ordinary  dreaming. 
The  dream  country,  like  most  of  this  outlying 
territory,  has  for  the  most  part  been  studied  with- 
out chart  or  compass.  There  is  scarcely  a  point 
connected  with  the  discussion  of  the  subject  upon 


142     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

which  the  most  eminent  authorities  are  not 
divided ;  it  is  Locke  against  Descartes,  Hamilton 
against  Locke,  and  Hobbes  against  the  field. 

If  there  be  any  one  point,  however,  on  which 
there  is  tolerable  unanimity  among  all  writers, 
ancient  and  modern,  great  and  small,  it  is  the 
absence  in  dreams  of  the  normal  acts  and  pro- 
cesses of  volition,  and,  especially,  of  the  faculty 
of  attention.  Now,  this  is  exactly  the  condition 
which  is  conducive  to  the  more  or  less  perfect 
emergence  and  activity  of  the  subliminal  self, 
under  whatever  circumstances  it  occurs. 

There  is  first,  loss  of  consciousness  from  cata- 
lepsy, fright,  depressing  illness,  hypnotism,  or 
natural  sleep,  that  is  to  say,  the  power  of  atten- 
tion or  volition  in  the  primary  self  is  abolished  ; 
then  comes  a  readjustment  of  personalities,  vary- 
ing in  completeness  according  to  the  ease  with 
which,  in  different  persons,  this  readjustment  may 
be  effected,  and  according  to  the  completeness  of 
the  abolition  of  the  power  of  attention  and  voli- 
tion. 

In  sleep  the  conditions  are  favorable  for  this 
readjustment,  and  the  subliminal  self  comes  more 
or  less  perfectly  to  the  surface  ;  then  appears  that 
most  peculiar  and  interesting  series  of  pictures 
and  visions  which  we  call  dreams ;  sometimes  the 


DOUBLE  PERSONALITY  AND  GENIUS.       143 

rearranged,  or  rather  unarranged,  impressions 
and  perceptions  of  the  waking  hours  brought  to- 
gether, possibly  just  before  the  power  of  attention 
is  entirely  lost ;  sometimes  the  Puck-like  work  of 
the  subliminal  personality,  the  L£ontines  of  the 
dream-country  influencing  the  unconscious  or 
semi-conscious  primary  self;  sometimes  the  verid- 
ical or  truth-telling  dreams,  which  have  been  the 
wonder  of  all  ages,  and  sometimes  giving  com- 
plete and  active  supremacy  to  the  subliminal  self 
as  in  natural  somnambulism.  Another  portion  of 
the  field  in  which  it  might  be  profitable  to  look 
for  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  subliminal  per- 
sonality is  in  the  eccentric  work  of  genius  ;  and 
still  another,  in  the  unexpected  and  often  heroic 
actions  of  seemingly  ordinary  persons  under  the 
stress  and  stimulus  of  a  great  emotion,  as  of  joy, 
sorrow,  or  anger,  or  of  intense  excitement,  as  for 
instance,  the  soldier  in  battle,  the  fireman  at  the 
post  of  danger,  or  the  philosopher  or  astronomer 
on  the  eve  of  a  new  discovery  ;  in  all  these  cases 
the  ordinary  personality  with  its  intense  self- 
consciousness  and  self-considering  carefulness  is 
submerged — it  disappears — the  power  of  volun- 
tary attention  to  mental  states  or  physical  action 
is  lost ;  a  new  and  superior  personality  comes  to  the 
surface  and  takes  control.  The  supreme  moment 


144      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

passes,  and  the  primary  self  resumes  sway,  scarcely 
conscious  of  what  has  been  done  or  how  it  was 
accomplished  ;  even  sensation  has  been  abolished, 
and  it  is  only  now  that  he  discovers  the  bleeding 
bullet-wound,  the  charred  member,  or  the  broken 
bone. 

In  physical  science,  whenever  some  new  fact  or 
law  or  principle  has  been  discovered,  it  is  at  once 
seen  that  many  things  which  before  were  obscure, 
or  perhaps  could  only  be  accounted  for  by  a 
theory  of  chance,  or  of  direct  interference  by  an 
omnipotent  Deity,  are  now  illuminated  by  a  new 
light,  and  order  reigns  where  before  only  confu- 
sion and  darkness  were  visible.  Something  of 
the  same  sort  is  beginning  to  be  recognized  in  the 
world  of  mental  and  psychical  phenomena.  If 
the  mathematical  exactness  which  measured  the 
force  of  gravity,  or  placed  the  sun  in  one  of  the 
foci  of  an  ellipse  instead  of  the  centre  of  a  circle 
cannot  be  applied  here,  it  is  only  on  account  of 
the  vast  complexity  of  the  problem  present- 
ed, and  of  which  we  know  so  few  of  the  ele- 
ments. 

When  matter  alone  is  concerned  we  know 
exactly  how  it  will  act  under  given  conditions. 
When  life  is  added,  the  problem  becomes  more 
complex.  The  general  law  of  evolution  and  the 


RECOGNITION  OF  A  SUBLIMINAL  SELF.     145 

special  law  of  natural  selection  in  the  development 
of  species  are  accepted  facts,  although  we  cannot 
with  success  apply  to  them  mathematical  for- 
mulae. When  mind  is  added  to  life,  the  problem 
becomes  still  more  complicated  and  mathematical 
exactness  still  less  likely  to  be  attained.  Many 
facts,  however,  are  being  ascertained  in  psychical 
science,  and  some  principles  are  being  established 
which  help  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion  and 
shed  light  on  some  dark  places. 

The  recognition  of  a  subliminal  self  as  forming 
a  part  of  the  psychical  organization  of  man  will 
throw  light  upon  many  obscure  mental  phenom- 
ena and  bring  order  out  of  seemingly  hopeless 
confusion.  Placed  before  us  as  a  working  hypoth- 
esis, many  other  facts,  before  errant  and  un- 
classified, group  themselves  about  it  in  wonderful 
clearness  and  harmony. 

Granting,  then,  provisionally  at  least,  the  reality 
of  the  secondary  self,  what  are  its  relations  to  the 
primary  self  and  their  common  physical  organiza- 
tion, and  how  came  it  to  occupy  these  relations  ? 
Mr.  Frederick  W.  H.  Myers,  to  whom  I  have 
already  referred,  whose  acute  intellect  and  schol- 
arly attainments  have  been  of  the  highest  value 
to  the  society  in  every  department  of  its  inves- 
tigations, has  also  taken  up  this  subject  with  his 
10 


146     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

usual  skill  and  judgment.  He  looks  upon  it  from 
the  standpoint  of  evolution,  commencing  with 
the  earliest  period  of  animal  life.  He  compares 
the  whole  psychical  organization,  together  with 
its  manifesting  physical  organization,  to  the 
thousand  looms  of  a  vast  manufactory. 

The  looms  are  complex  and  of  varying  patterns, 
for  turning  out  different  sorts  of  work.  They  are 
also  used  in  various  combinations,  and  there  are 
various  driving  bands  and  connecting  machinery 
by  which  they  may  severally  be  connected  or  dis- 
connected, but  the  motive  power  which  drives  the 
whole  is  constant  for  all,  and  all  works  automat- 
ically to  turn  out  the  styles  of  goods  that  are 
needed. 

"  Now,  how  did  I  come  to  have  my  looms  and 
driving-gear  arranged  in  this  particular  way? 
Not,  certainly,  through  any  deliberate  choice  of  my 
own.  My  ancestor,  the  ascidian,in  fact,  inherited 
the  business  when  it  consisted  of  little  more  than 
a  single  spindle  ;  since  his  day  my  nearer  ances- 
tors have  added  loom  after  loom." 

Changes  have  been  going  on  continually  ;  some 
of  the  looms  are  now  quite  out  of  date,  have  long 
been  unused,  and  are  quite  out  of  repair  or  fallen 
to  pieces.  Others  are  kept  in  order  because  the 
style  of  goods  which  they  turn  out  is  still  useful 


MR.  F.  W.  H.  MYERS1  EXCELLENT  WORK.    147 

and  necessary.  But  the  class  of  goods  called  for 
has  greatly  changed  of  late.  For  instance,  the 
machinery  at  present  in  operation  is  best  adapted 
to  turning  out  goods  of  a  decidedly  egoistic  style, 
for  self-preservation,  persistence  in  the  struggle 
for  life,  and  for  self-gratification  ;  but  a  style  is 
beginning  to  be  called  for  of  the  altruistic  pat- 
tern. For  this  kind  of  goods  the  machinery  is 
not  well  adapted.  It  is  old-fashioned,  and  changes 
are  necessary.  If  there  are  any  looms  in  the 
establishment  unknown  and  unused  which  can  be 
turned  to  account,  or  any  way  of  modifying  such 
as  we  have  to  meet  the  demand,  it  is  for  our  in- 
terest to  know  it. 

But  the  methods  of  adjustment,  and  arrange- 
ments for  bringing  new  looms  into  operation  are 
hidden  and  difficult  of  access,  so  we  observe 
factories  where  spontaneous  readjustments  are 
going  on  and  new  looms,  not  known  to  have  been 
in  the  establishment,  are  being  brought  automat- 
ically into  action  and  are  found  to  work  fairly 
well.  Such  instances  are  found  in  the  establish- 
ment of  F£lida  X.  or  Louis  V.,  from  which  valu- 
able hints  are  obtained  regarding  changes  and 
readjustments. 

Furthermore,  in  hypnotism,  we  find  a  safe  and, 
at  the  same  time,  powerful  lever,  for  readjustment, 


148     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

by  means  of  which  in  some  establishments  new 
looms  can  be  brought  into  play  and  shut  off 
again  almost  at  will ;  and  often  while  the  new 
looms  are  at  work  doing  good  service  we  are  able 
to  get  at  the  old  ones,  repair  and  modernize  them 
so  as  to  make  them  useful,  and  the  immense  value 
of  hypnotism  in  this  educational  and  reformatory 
work  has  hardly  begun  to  be  known  or  appre- 
ciated. A  single  instance  out  of  many  must 
suffice  for  illustration. 

In  the  summer  of  1884  there  was  at  the  Salpe- 
trie"re  a  young  woman  of  a  deplorable  type, 
Jeanne  S.,  who  was  a  criminal  lunatic,  filthy,  vio- 
lent, arid  with  a  life  history  of  impurity  and  crime. 
M.  Auguste  Voisin,  one  of  the  physicians  of 
the  staff,  undertook  to  hypnotize  her  May  3ist. 
At  that  time  she  was  so  violent  that  she  could 
only  be  kept  quiet  by  a  strait-jacket  and  the 
constant  cold  douche  to  her  head.  She  would 
not  look  at  M.  Voisin,  but  raved  and  spat  at  him. 
He  persisted,  kept  his  face  near  and  opposite  to 
hers,  and  his  eyes  following  hers  constantly.  In 
ten  minutes  she  was  in  a  sound  sleep,  and  soon 
passed  into  the  somnambulistic  condition.  The 
process  was  repeated  many  days,  and  gradually 
she  became  sane  while  in  the  hypnotic  condition, 
but  still  raved  when  she  awoke. 


M.  VOISIWS  REMARKABLE  CASE,  149 

Gradually,  then,  she  began  to  accept  hypnotic 
suggestion,  and  would  obey  trivial  orders  given 
her  while  asleep,  such  as  to  sweep  her  room,  etc. ; 
then  suggestions  regarding  her  general  behavior ; 
then,  in  her  hypnotic  condition,  she  began  to  ex- 
press regret  for  her  past  life  and  form  resolutions 
of  amendment,  which  she  fully  adhered  to  when 
she  awoke.  Two  years  later  she  was  a  nurse  in 
one  of  the  Paris  hospitals,  and  her  conduct  was 
irreproachable.  M.  Voisin  has  followed  up  this 
case  by  others  equally  striking. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  discoveries, 
experiments,  and  studies  which  have  been  made 
in  the  domain  of  human  personality.  It  is  merely 
a  sketch,  and  certainly  it  is  in  no  spirit  of  dog- 
matism that  it  is  presented ;  but  as  a  collection 
of  facts  relating  to  human  nature  and  the  con- 
stitution and  action  of  the  human  mind,  it  is 
at  least  curious. 

It  need  not  destroy  our  convictions  regarding 
the  essential  unity  of  personality,  but  it  must 
necessarily  enlarge  our  conceptions  of  what  con- 
stitutes an  individual,  and  how  under  various  cir- 
cumstances that  individual  may  act. 

From  many  points  of  view,  and  in  relation  to 
many  departments  of  study  and  of  human  de- 
velopment— legal,  moral,  social,  and  educational 


150     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

• — the  subject  presents  important  bearings  ;  and, 
furthermore,  in  the  solution  of  other  psychological 
problems  it  will  be  found  to  possess  the  greatest 
possible  interest  and  value. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

AUTOMATISM — PLANCHETTE. 

OUR  ordinary  actions,  both  physical  and  mental, 
are,  for  the  most  part,  subject  to  our  own  volun- 
tary guidance  and  choice.  Of  this,  at  least,  we 
feel  sure.  We  work,  walk,  talk,  play  upon  an 
instrument,  read  a  book,  or  write  a  letter,  be- 
cause we  choose  to  do  these  things  ;  and  ordinarily 
they  are  done  under  the  full  guidance  of  our  will 
and  intelligence.  Sometimes,  however,  actions 
are  performed  by  us  without  our  choice  or  guid- 
ance, and  even  without  our  consciousness,  and 
such  actions  are  called  automatic.  The  thrifty 
housewife,  perhaps  also  being  of  a  literary  turn  of 
mind,  may  become  deeply  absorbed  in  an  exciting 
novel,  while  at  the  same  time  her  busy  fingers, 
without  thought  or  effort  on  her  part,  skilfully 
ply  the  knitting  needles,  or  her  well  accustomed 
foot,  with  gentle  motion,  rocks  the  cradle. 

During  an  exciting  conversation,  or  the  absorb- 

T5I 


152     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

ing  consideration  of  some  important  subject  or 
problem,  the  act  of  walking  is  performed  without 
will  or  consciousness ;  the  pianoforte  player  runs 
his  scales  and  roulades  with  marvellous  rapidity 
and  precision  while  reading  a  book  or  carrying  on 
an  animated  conversation.  Such  actions  are  per- 
formed automatically. 

When  we  come  to  examine  a  large  number  of 
actions  performed  in  this  automatic  manner,  we 
observe  that  they  exhibit  great  diversity  in  the 
kind  and  degree  of  automatism  displayed  in  their 
performance.  In  the  cases  above  mentioned  the 
mind  is  simply  altogether  engaged  in  doing  one 
thing,  and  at  the  same  time  the  muscles  go  on 
without  any  conscious  direction  or  supervision, 
doing  altogether  another  thing,  but  generally 
something  which  they  had  before  been  accustomed 
to  do.  This  is  often  called  absent-mindedness ; 
it  is  also  one  of  the  most  common  and  simple 
forms  of  automatism.  We  set  the  machine  to 
work,  and  it  goes  itself. 

Another  kind  of  automatism  is  that  which  often 
appears  in  connection  with  peculiar  gifts  or  talents, 
and  is  especially  associated  with  genius.  It  is 
seen,  for  example,  in  the  poet  and  the  orator, 
and  in  those  capable  of  improvisation,  especially 
in  music  or  in  verse.  The  pianist  or  organist 


IMPRO  VISA  TION.  x  53 

seats  himself  at  the  instrument  without  the  re- 
motest idea  of  what  he  is  to  perform — he  simply 
commences.  The  theme  he  is  to  present,  the 
various  melodies,  harmonies,  changes,  and  mod- 
ulations which  come  at  his  touch  are  often  as 
much  a  surprise  and  delight  to  himself  as  to  the 
most  interested  listener.  Something  within  him 
furnishes  and  formulates  the  ideas,  and  causes 
him  to  express  them  artistically  upon  the  instru- 
ment of  his  choice  without  any  effort,  or  even 
supervision  of  his  own — he  is  simply  conscious  of 
what  is  produced — but  if  he  should  undertake 
consciously  to  guide  or  in  any  way  interfere 
with  the  production,  the  extraordinary  beauty 
and  excellence  of  the  performance  would  at  once 
cease. 

Still  another  kind  of  automatism  is  illustrated 
in  somnambulism.  The  somnambulist  arises 
from  his  bed  in  his  sleep,  and  proceeds  to  prepare 
a  meal  or  work  out  a  mathematical  problem  or 
write  a  thesis  or  a  letter,  or  sometimes  to  de- 
scribe distant  scenes  and  events  transpiring  far 
away.  Here  the  actions,  both  physical  and  men- 
tal, are  performed,  not  only  without  the  exercise 
of  the  actor's  own  choice  or  control,  but  he  has 
no  knowledge  of  them  whatever.  They  are 
altogether  outside  the  domain  of  his  conscious- 


154     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

ness,  and  have  their  origin  in  some  centre  of  in- 
telligence quite  apart  from  his  own  ordinary 
consciousness,  and  they  only  appear  or  find  ex- 
pression through  his  physical  organization.  Let 
us  examine  a  little  more  closely  into  these 
different  forms  of  automatism. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  a  curious  little  •piece  of 
mechanism — apparently  half  toy  and  half  an 
instrument  for  amateur  conjuring — made  its  ap- 
pearance in  the  windows  of  the  toyshops  and 
bookstores  of  the  United  States.  It  was  a  little 
heart-shaped  piece  of  mahogany,  or  other  hard 
wood,  about  seven  inches  by  five  in  dimensions, 
with  two  casters  serving  for  feet  at  the  base  of 
the  heart,  while  a  closely-fitting  pencil  passed 
through  a  hole  at  the  point  or  apex. 

Thus  a  tripod  was  formed,  moving  with  perfect 
ease  and  freedom  in  any  direction,  while  the 
pencil,  which  formed  the  third  foot,  left  its 
plain  and  continuous  tracing  wherever  the  instru- 
ment was  moved. 

This  little  toy  was  called  Planchette,  and  won- 
derful tales  were  told  of  its  strange  performances 
when  rightly  used.  Evenly  adjusted  upon  a 
plain  wood  table,  if  a  properly-constituted  person 
placed  his  or  her  finger-tips  lightly  upon  its  sur- 
face, it  sopn  began  to  move  about,  without  any 


DOES  NOT  MOVE  FOR  EVERY  ONE.         155 

muscular  effort  or  any  wish  or  will  on  the  part  of 
the  operator;  a  broad,  smooth  sheet  of  paper 
being  placed  beneath  it  upon  the  table,  figures, 
words,  and  sentences  were  plainly  traced  by  the 
pencil,  all  in  the  style  of  a  veritable  oracle,  and 
greatly  to  the  delight  of  the  curious,  the  wonder 
of  the  superstitious,  and  the  mystification  of  peo- 
ple generally. 

Not  every  one,  however,  could  command  the 
services  of  the  modern  oracle  ;  only  to  the  touch 
of  a  certain  few  was  it  responsive  ;  to  the  many 
it  was  still  and  silent  as  a  sphinx.  One  in  ten, 
perhaps,  could  obtain  a  scrawl ;  one  in  twenty, 
intelligible  sentences,  and  one  in  a  hundred  could 
produce  remarkable  results.  Few  persons  wit- 
nessing its  performances  under  favorable  circum- 
stances failed  to  be  interested,  but  different  peo- 
ple looked  at  it  from  quite  different  standpoints. 
The  habitual  doubter  saw  in  it  only  a  well- 
managed  trick,  which,  however,  he  failed  to  de- 
tect ;  the  spiritualist  saw  undoubted  evidence  of 
spiritual  manifestations,  while  the  great  majority 
of  common-sense  people  saw  writing  done,  evi- 
dently without  will  or  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
writer,  producing  messages  of  every  grade,  from 
the  most  commonplace  twaddle,  foolishness,  and 
even  falsehood,  to  the  exhibition  of  intelligence 


156     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

of  a  high  order,  a  sparkling  wit,  and  a  perception 
of  events,  past,  present,  and  sometimes  even  of 
those  still  in  the  future,  most  acute  and  unusual. 
What  was  the  cause  of  these  involuntary  move- 
ments, or  whence  came  the  messages  written, 
they  did  not  know,  and  few  even  cared  to  spec- 
ulate. 

That  was  twenty-five  years  ago,  and  the  two 
theories  already  alluded  to  were  about  the  only 
ones  adduced  to  account  for  the  phenomena. 
Dr.  Carpenter's  theory  of  "  unconscious  cerebra- 
tion "  and  "  unconscious  muscular  action  "  did  not 
cover  the  ground  ;  there  was  altogether  too  much 
cerebration  not  to  have  a  consciousness  connected 
with  it  in  some  way.  The  theory  did  not  cover 
the  facts.  Twenty-five  years  have  failed  to  de- 
tect the  long-talked-of  trick  of  the  skeptic  ;  they 
have  also  failed  to  substantiate  the  claim  of  spirit- 
ualists, and  Planchette-writing  is  almost  as  much 
a  mystery  as  ever. 

Fairly  studied,  then,  what  does  Planchette  really 
do  ?  From  a  physical  standpoint  its  performances 
are  simply  automatic  writing  or  drawing.  To 
deny  the  automatic  character  of  the  movements 
of  Planchette  at  this  day  is  simply  absurd.  That 
writing  can  be  produced  with  it  voluntarily,  no 
one  doubts,  but  that  it  generally  is  produced  au- 


CLASSES  Of  PL  AW  CHE  TTE  MESS  A  GES.      1 5  7 

tomatically,  that  is,  without  the  choice  or  control 
of  the  writers,  and  without  their  knowledge  of 
what  is  being  written,  it  would  be  waste  of  time 
here  to  attempt  to  prove  ;  the  theory  of  fraud  is 
untenable,  and  the  real  question  at  issue  is  the 
psychical  one,  namely,  whence  come  the  messages 
which  it  brings  ? 

These  messages  may  be  divided  into  three  gen- 
eral classes :  (i)  Those  which  are  trivial  or  irrel- 
evant. (2)  Those  which  show  intelligence  and 
have  some  unmistakable  relation  to  the  subject  of 
which  they  purport  to  give  information,  but  all 
of  which  is  known  either  to  the  writers  or  some 
person  present.  (3)  Those  which  bring,  or  profess 
to  bring,  information  unknown  in  any  way,  either 
to  the  writer  or  any  person  present. 

The  first  of  these  divisions  need  not  detain  us, 
though  it  contains  a  very  large  share  of  all  the 
messages  received,  as  it  simply  illustrates  the  fact 
of  automatism,  which  is  equally  well  illustrated  in 
the  other  classes  of  messages,  which  are  of  a  more 
interesting  character.  The  second  class,  namely, 
messages  which  show  intelligence  and  have  an 
unmistakable  relation  to  the  subject  concerning 
which  information  is  asked,  and  yet  contain  noth- 
ing beyond  the  knowledge  of  the  writers  or  of 
persons  present,  is  also  very  large. 


158     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

The  following  is  a  sketch  of  my  own  first 
experience  with  Planchette.  I  may  remark  that 
subsequent  trials  brought  out  the  fact  that  for 
myself  alone  Planchette  will  do  nothing ;  it  will 
not  even  move  a  hair's-breadth ;  but  when,  as  is 
often  the  case,  two  persons  are  needed  for  success, 
I  am  often  selected  by  Planchette  to  assist  when 
it  is  consulted  in  the  matter.  On  one  occasion,  I 
was  calling  at  a  friend's  house,  in  the  spring  of 
1868.  Planchette  was  then  much  in  vogue,  and 
one  stood  on  a  side-table  in  the  room.  A  young 
daughter  of  my  friend — a  school-girl  fifteen  or  six- 
teen years  of  age — remarked  that  Planchette 
would  move  and  sometimes  even  write  for  her,  and 
she  asked  me  to  join  her  in  a  trial.  I  consented, 
and,  to  our  surprise,  the  moment  our  fingers  were 
placed  lightly  upon  the  instrument  it  moved  off 
with  great  energy.  Questions  were  then  asked, 
and  the  answers  were  written  with  promptness 
and  intelligence,  greatly  to  the  amusement  of  the 
company.  Desiring  to  know  who  our  mysterious 
correspondent  might  be,  we  politely  said,  "  Plan- 
chette, will  you  kindly  inform  us  who  it  is  that 
writes  these  answers  ?  "  to  which  it  replied,  "  Peter 
Stuyvesant." 

"  Old  Governor  Stuyvesant  ?  "  we  asked. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply. 


THE  STUYVESANT  PEAR  TREE.  15$ 

Now  it  so  happened  that  a  short  time  previous 
to  our  stance  the  old  pear  tree,  known  as  the 
Stuyvesant  pear  tree,  which  had  stood  for  more 
than  two  hundred  years  at  the  corner  of  Thirteenth 
Street  and  Third  Avenue,  having  become  decayed 
and  tottering,  was  thrown  down  by  a  blow  from 
a  passing  truck  and  had  been  ruthlessly  chopped 
to  pieces  by  workmen  ;  and  the  event  had  been 
generally  noticed  and  commented  upon.  Accord- 
ingly we  replied, 

"  We  are  very  glad  to  hear  from  you,  Governor. 
How  about  the  old  pear  tree  ?  " 

To  this  a  reply  was  promptly  written,  but 
neither  of  us  had  the  slightest  idea  what  it  might 
be.  The  young  lady  took  up  the  paper  and 
commenced  to  read,  but  was  shocked  and  greatly 
confused  to  find,  clearly  written,  in  a  hand  quite 

foreign  to  us  both,  "  It's  a shame !  "  the 

blanks  here  being  filled  by  the  most  emphatic  ex- 
pletives, and  without  the  slightest  abbreviation. 

Another  excellent  Planchette-writer  was  Miss  V., 
a  friend  of  the  family,  who  was  spending  a  few  days 
at  my  house  in  March,  1889.  She  was  a  young 
German  lady  of  unusual  intelligence,  vivacity, 
and  good  sound  sense.  She  knew  of  spiritualism 
only  by  passing  remarks  which  she  might  have 
heard,  and  had  never  either  seen  or  heard  of  Plan- 


160     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

chette.  She  was  herself  a  somnambulist,  or,  rather, 
a  somniloquist,  for  she  never  walked  in  her  sleep, 
but  talked  with  the  greatest  ease,  carrying  on 
long  conversations  without  the  slightest  memory 
afterwards  of  what  had  been  said.  She  was  also 
an  excellent  hypnotic  subject,  and  the  suggested 
effects  of  medicines  were  much  more  prompt  and 
certain  than  the  effect  of  the  medicines  them- 
selves, when  used  in  the  ordinary  way. 

For  experiment  one  evening  I  proposed  that 
we  should  try  Planchette.  As  soon  as  our  fin- 
gers were  placed  upon  the  instrument,  it  moved 
off  across  the  table  with  the  greatest  promptness, 
and  at  once  it  replied  to  questions  with  unusual 
appropriateness  and  intelligence.  The  astonish- 
ment of  Miss  V.  was  altogether  too  profound  and 
too  apparent  to  admit  of  any  suspicion  of  collu- 
sion on  her  part,  and  she  had  seen  that  the  board 
would  not  move  for  me  alone,  yet  she  could  not 
be  persuaded  that  when  we  wrote  together  there 
was  not  some  trick,  and  that  I  did  not  move  the 
board  voluntarily  to  produce  the  writing. 

At  length  a  message  came  concerning  one  of 
her  own  relatives,  of  whom  she  was  sure  that  I 
could  have  no  knowledge  whatever,  and  she  was 
convinced  that  at  all  events  that  message  could  not 
have  originated  with  me.  Accordingly  she  became 


PLANCHETTE-WRITING  WITH  MISS  F.      161 

a  most  valuable  and  interested  partner  in  the  ex- 
periments, and  the  chief  medium  through  whom 
Planchette  gave  its  communications. 

Our  sittings  continued  four  or  five  consecutive 
evenings,  and  hundreds  of  communications  and 
answers  to  questions  were  given  by  different  in- 
telligences or  personalities,  with  entirely  different 
modes  of  expression  and  different  kinds  of  writ- 
ing ;  some  were  religious,  some  philosophical, 
some  were  anxious  to  give  advice,  and  some  were 
profane ;  this  last-mentioned  phase  appearing 
especially  if  we  were  persistent  in  inquiring  too 
closely  into  the  identity  and  former  condition  of 
the  communicating  personality. 

On  one  occasion  a  message  was  written  which 
was  so  strange  in  its  appearance  that  none  of  us 
could  at  first  make  it  out.  At  length  we  discov- 
ered some  familiar  negro  phrase,  and  applying 
this  key,  we  found  we  had  a  message  of  regular 
plantation  negro  talk,  bearing  a  very  strong  re- 
semblance to  Uncle  Remus's  talk  to  the  little 
boy,  which  some  of  us  had  just  been  reading. 
On  asking  who  the  "  intelligence  "  was,  it  wrote, 
"  Oh,  I'se  a  good  ole  coon." 

"  Neither  Miss  V.  nor  myself  had  ever  heard 
such  a  dialect  spoken,  nor  knew  that  any  sort  of 
person  of  the  negro  race  was  ever  called  a  "  coon." 


1 62     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

On  another  occasion,  Miss  V.  was  anxious  to 
know  and  asked  Planchette  if  a  relative  of  hers, 
whom  she  named,  was  staying  in  town  that 
night.  The  answer  came,  "  Yes."  "  Where  is  he 
stopping?"  Answer:  "At  the  H.  House." 
"  What  is  he  doing  now  ?  "  Answer  :  "  He  has 
just  finished  his  dinner,  settled  his  bill  at  the 
cashier's  desk,  and  is  now  walking  up  Broad- 
way with  his  cousin."  She  afterward  learned 
that  this  information  was  correct  in  every  partic- 
ular. 

On  the  last  evening  of  our  experiments  the 
force  displayed  in  the  writing  was  something  sur- 
prising. Miss  V.  always  experienced  a  certain 
amount  of  pain  in  her  arms  while  writing,  as  if 
she  were  holding  the  electrodes  of  a  battery 
through  which  a  mild  current  was  passing.  On 
this  occasion  the  pain  was  almost  unbearable,  so 
that  she  frequently  cried  out,  and  was  obliged  to 
remove  her  hands  from  the  board  for  relief. 

The  writing  was  so  violent  that  it  could  be  heard 
in  the  next  room,  and  at  times  it  seemed  as  though 
the  board  would  surely  be  broken.  Seeing  so 
much  force  exhibited,  I  allowed  my  fingers  merely 
to  touch  the  surface  of  the  board,  but  so  lightly 
that  my  hands  did  not  move  with  it  at  all,  but 
simply  retained  contact,  the  board  sliding  along 


EXPERIMENT  REPEA  TED.  163 

beneath  them.  The  writing  continued  with  just 
the  same  violence.  I  then  called  the  attention  of 
Miss  V.  to  what  I  was  doing,  and  requested  her 
to  adjust  her  hands  in  a  similar  manner.  She  did 
so,  and  the  instrument  continued  to  write  several 
words,  with  gradually  diminishing  force,  moving 
under  our  hands,  while  our  hands  did  not  follow 
at  all  the  movements  of  the  instrument,  until  at 
length  it  gradually  stopped,  like  a  machine  when 
the  power  is  turned  off. 

Miss  V.  does  not  reside  in  the  city,  but  while  I 
was  writing  this  chapter  she  was  in  town,  and 
spent  a  few  hours  at  my  house.  We  were  both 
anxious  to  try  Planchette  again.  When  we 
placed  our  fingers  upon  the  board,  the  writing 
commenced  at  once,  and  intelligent  answers  were 
given  to  about  twenty  questions,  some  of  the 
answers,  especially  those  relating  to  distant  friends, 
being  quite  contrary  to  our  impressions  and  our 
hopes,  but  they  were  afterward  found  to  be  true. 

We  remembered  the  experiment  just  related, 
which  was  made  more  than  four  years  ago.  The 
force  on  this  occasion  was  not  at  all  to  be  com- 
pared with  what  it  was  then,  but  we  said,  "  Now, 
Planchette,  we  want  to  ask  a  favor  of  you ;  will 
you  repeat  the  experiment  of  four  years  ago,  and 
move  under  our  hands,  while  our  hands  remain 


164     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

stationary  ?  "  It  replied,  "  Since  you  are  so  polite, 
I  will  try ;  perhaps  I  can  move  it  a  little." 

We  then  planted  our  elbows  firmly  upon  the 
table,  curved  our  wrists,  so  as  to  allow  the  tips  of 
our  fingers  to  rest  in  the  lightest  possible  manner 
upon  the  surface  of  the  board.  Four  of  us  were 
watching  with  great  interest  for  the  result.  After 
a  moment's  hesitation,  slowly  the  board  moved 
nearly  an  inch  and  stopped,  but  the  movement 
was  so  obvious  and  decided,  and  without  any 
movement  of  our  hands,  that  a  simultaneous  shout 
went  up  from  us  all,  and  "  Well  done,  Plan- 
chette ! "  The  experiment  was  successfully  re- 
peated several  times,  the  tracing  of  the  pencil  in 
each  case  showing  a  movement  of  from  one  to  two 
inches. 

A  most  valuable  series  of  experiments  in  Plan- 
chette-writing  was  recently  carried  on  by  the  late 
Rev.  Mr.  Newnham,  vicar  of  Maker,  Davenport, 
England,  a  member  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  together  with  his  wife.  They  were 
fully  reported  to  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  secretary 
of  the  society. 

The  experiments  extended  over  a  period  of  eight 
months,  and  more  than  three  hundred  questions 
and  answers  were  recorded.  Mrs.  Newnham  alone 
was  the  operator,  and  the  important  peculiarity  in 


THE  NEWNHAM  EXPERIMENTS.  165 

these  experiments  was,  that  although  quite  in  her 
normal  condition,  yet  in  no  instance  here  related 
did  she  see  the  question  written  to  which  she 
wrote  the  answer,  nor  did  she  hear  it  asked,  nor 
did  she  have  any  conscious  knowledge,  either  of 
question  or  answer,  until  the  answer  was  written 
and  read.  She  sat  upon  a  low  chair  at  a  low 
table  some  eight  or  ten  feet  from  her  husband, 
while  he  sat  at  a  rather  high  table,  with  his  back 
to  her.  In  this  position  he  silently  wrote  out 
the  questions,  it  being  impossible  for  her  to  see 
either  the  paper,  the  motion  of  his  hand,  or  the 
expression  of  his  face,  and  their  good  faith,  as 
well  as  that  of  many  intelligent  witnesses,  is 
pledged  to  the  truth  of  this  statement. 

Mr.  Newnham  remarks  that  Planchette  com- 
menced to  move  immediately  upon  the  first  trial, 
and  often  the  answer  to  questions  prepared  as  just 
described  was  commenced  before  the  question 
was  fully  written  out. 

At  their  first  sitting,  finding  that  the  instrument 
would  write,  he  proposed,  silently,  in  writing,  six 
questions,  three  the  answers  to  which  might  be 
known  to  Mrs.  Newnham,  and  three  relating  to 
his  own  private  affairs,  and  of  which  the  answers 
could  not  have  been  known  to  her.  All  six  were 
immediately  answered  in  a  manner  denoting  com- 


166     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

plete  intelligence,  both  of  the  question  and  the 
proper  answer.  He  then  wrote :  "  Write  down  the 
lowest  temperature  here  this  winter."  Answer : 
"  8."  The  actual  lowest  temperature  had  been  7-6 
degrees,  so  8  was  the  nearest  whole  degree,  but  Mrs. 
Newnham  remarked  at  once  that  had  she  been 
asked  the  question  she  should  have  written  7, 
and  not  8,  because  she  did  not  remember  the  frac- 
tion, but  did  remember  that  the  figure  was  7  some- 
thing. 

Again  it  was  asked,  "  Is  it  the  operator's  brain, 
or  an  immaterial  spirit  that  moves  Planchette? 
Answer  '  brain  '  or  '  force.'  " 

"  Will." 

"  Is  it  the  will  of  a  living  person  or  of  an  imma- 
terial spirit  ?  Answer  '  force  '  or  '  spirit.'  " 

"Wife." 

"  Give,  first,  the  wife's  Christian  name,  and 
then  my  favorite  name  for  her."  This  was 
accurately  done. 

"  What  is  your  own  name  ?  " 

"  Only  wife." 

We  are  not  quite  sure  of  the  meaning  of  your 
answer.  Explain." 

"  Wife." 

"  Who  are  you  that  writes  ?  " 

"Wife." 


AN  A  UTOMA  TIC  PR  A  YER.  1 6  7 

"  Does  no  one  tell  wife  what  to  write  ?  If  so, 
who  ?  " 

"Spirit." 

"  Whose  spirit  ?  " 

"Wife's  brain." 

"  But  how  does  wife's  brain  know  certain 
secrets  ?  " 

"  Wife's  spirit  unconsciously  guides." 

"  Can  you  foresee  the  future  ?  " 

"  No." 

On  another  occasion  it  was  asked :  "  Write  out 
the  prayer  used  at  the  advancement  of  a  Mark 
Master  Mason." 

"  Answer :  Almighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe 
and  Architect  of  all  Worlds,  we  beseech  Thee  to 
accept  this,  our  brother,  whom  we  have  this  day 
received  into  our  most  honorable  company  of 
Mark  Master  Masons.  Grant  him  to  be  a  worthy 
member  of  our  brotherhood,  and  may  he  be  in 
his  own  person  a  perfect  mirror  of  all  Masonic 
virtues.  Grant  that  all  our  doings  may  be  to 
Thy  honor  and  glory  and  to  the  welfare  of  all 
mankind." 

Mr.  Newnham  adds :  "  This  prayer  was  written 
off  instantaneously  and  very  rapidly.  I  must 
say  that  no  prayer  in  the  slightest  degree  resem- 
bling it  is  made  use  of  in  the  ritual  of  any  Masonic 


1 68     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

degree,  and  yet  it  contains  more  than  one  strictly 
accurate  technicality  connected  with  the  degree  of 
Mark  Master  Mason.  My  wife  has  never  seen 
any  Masonic  prayers,  whether  in  '  Carlile,'  or  any 
other  real  or  spurious  ritual  of  the  Masonic 
Order." 

The  whole  report  shows  the  same  instantaneous 
appreciation  of  the  written  questions,  by  the  in- 
telligence and  appropriateness  with  which  the 
answer  was  framed,  though  Mrs.  Newnham  never 
had  any  idea  what  the  question  was  until  after 
the  answer  was  written  and  read,  and  the  answers 
very  often  were  entirely  contrary  to  the  preju- 
dices and  expectations  of  both  the  persons 
engaged  in  the  experiments. 

The  following  case  may  fairly  be  placed  in  the 
third  class  of  messages,  namely,  those  conveying 
intelligence  which  seems  to  be  beyond  the  pos- 
sible knowledge  of  the  writer  or  of  any  person 
present.  It  is  a  well  authenticated  and  interest- 
ing example  of  Planchette-writing,  reported  to 
Mr.  Myers,  the  reporter  being  Mr.  Hensleigh 
Wedgwood,  a  cousin  and  brother-in-law  of  Charles 
Darwin,  and  himself  a  savant  of  no  small  reputa- 
tion. Two  ladies,  sisters,  whom  he  designates  as 
Mrs.  R.  and  Mrs.  V.,  were  for  many  years  inti- 
mate and  valued  friends  of  Mr.  Wedgwood,  and 


MR.   WEDGWOOD'S  EXPERIMENTS.  169 

it  was  in  co-operation  with  one  or  the  other  of 
these  ladies  that  the  results  to  be  noted,  along 
with  much  other  interesting  matter,  were 
obtained. 

Sitting  alone,  neither  of  the  ladies  nor  Mr. 
Wedgwood  was  able  to  obtain  any  results  at  all 
with  Planchette  ;  the  board  remained  absolutely 
motionless.  The  two  ladies  together  could 
obtain  no  writing,  but  only  wavy  lines,  made 
rapidly,  like  a  person  writing  at  full  speed,  but 
with  Mr.  Wedgwood  co-operating  with  either  of 
the  ladies  the  writing  was  intelligible,  but  was 
much  stronger  and  more  vivacious  with  Mrs.  V. 
than  with  Mrs.  R.  The  following  extracts  are 
from  Mrs.  R.'s  journal  of  a  sitting,  June  26, 
1889: 

"  With  Mr.  W.  and  Mrs.  R.  at  the  board,  Plan- 
chette writes:  'A  spirit  is  here  who  thinks  he 
will  be  able  to  write,  through  the  medium.  Hold 
very  steady,  and  he  will  try  first  to  draw.'  We 
turned  the  page,  and  a  sketch  was  made,  rudely 
enough,  of  course,  but  with  much  apparent  care. 
Planchette  then  wrote : 

"  '  Very  sorry  can't  do  better ;  was  meant  for 
test ;  must  write  for  you  instead.  (Signed)  J.  G.' 

"  We  did  not  fully  understand  this  drawing;  and 
Mr.  W.  asked,  '  Will  J.  G.  try  again  ?  '  which  it 


170     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

did.  Below  the  drawing  it  wrote :  '  Now  look.' 
We  did,  and  this  time  clearly  comprehended  the 
arm  and  sword.  Mr.  W.  asked,  'What  does 
the  drawing  represent  ? ' 

"  '  Something  given  to  me.' 

"  Mrs.  R.  asked,  'Are  you  a  man  or  a  woman  ? ' 

"  '  A  man— John  G.' 

"  Mr.  W.  asked,  '  How  was  it  given  to  you  ? ' 

"  '  On  paper  and  other  things.' 

"  Mr.  W.  *  We  don't  know  J.  G.  Have  you 
anything  to  do  with  us  ?  ' 

" '  No  connection.' 

"  Mr.  W.  said  he  knew  of  a  J.  Gifford,  and 
wondered  if  that  was  the  name. 

"  '  Not  Gifford  ;  Gurwood.' 

"  Mr.  W.  suggested  that  he  had  been  killed  in 
storming  some  fort. 

"  '  I  wish  I  had  died  fighting.' 

"  '  Were  you  a  soldier  ? ' 

" '  I  was  in  the  army.' 

"  '  Can  you  say  what  rank  ? ' 

" '  No  ;  it  was  the  pen  did  for  me,  not  the  sword.' 

"  We  suggested  that  he  was  an  author  who  had 
failed  or  been  maligned. 

" '  I  did  not  fail.  I  was  not  slandered.  Too 
much  for  me  after — the  pen  was  too  much  forme 
after  my  wound.' 


JOHN  G UR  WOO&S  CREST.  1 7 1 

"  Asked  to  repeat,  it  wrote :  '  I  was  wounded  in 
the  Peninsula.  It  will  be  forty-four  years  next 
Christmas  Day  since  I  killed  myself — I  killed  my- 
self. John  Gurwood.' " 

Leaving  Mrs.  R.'s  diary,  the  following  is  the 
account  Mr.  Wedgwood  wrote  of  the  stance  at 
the  time : — 

"JUNE  26,  1889. — Had  a  sitting  at  Planchette 
with  Mrs.  R.  this  morning.  Planchette  said  there 


was  a  spirit  there  who  thought  it  could  draw  if 
we  wished  it.  We  said  we  should  be  glad  if  he 
would  try.  Accordingly  Planchette  made  a  rude 
attempt  at  a  hand  and  arm  proceeding  from  an 
embattled  wall  and  holding  a  sword.  A  second 
attempt  made  the  subject  clearer.  Planchette 
said  it  was  meant  for  a  test.  The  spirit  signed 
it  '  J.  G.'  No  connection  of  ours,  he  said.  We 
gradually  elicited  that  his  name  was  John  Gur- 


1 72     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

wood,  who  was  wounded  in  the  Peninsula  in  1810, 
and  killed  himself  on  Christmas  Day,  1845.  It 
was  not  the  wound  but  the  pen  that  did  it. 

"JULYS,  1889. — I  made  the  foregoing  memoran- 
dum the  same  day,  having  very  little  expectation 
that  there  would  be  any  verification. 

"  H.  WEDGWOOD." 

Quoting  again  from  Mrs.  R.'s  journal:  "Friday, 
Sept.  27. — Mr.  Wedgwood  came,  and  we  had  two 
sittings — in  the  afternoon  and  evening.  I  think 
the  same  spirit  wrote  throughout,  beginning  with- 
out signature,  but  when  asked  the  name,  writing 
John  Gurwood.  The  effort,  at  first  incoherent, 
developed  afterward  into  the  following  sentences : 
*  Sword — when  I  broke  in,  on  the  table  with  plan 
of  fortress — belonged  to  my  prisoner — I  will  tell 
you  his  name  to-night.  It  was  on  the  table  when 
I  broke  in.  He  did  not  expect  me.  I  took  him 
unawares.  He  was  in  his  room, looking  at  apian, 
and  the  sword  was  on  the  table.  Will  try  and  let 
you  know  how  I  took  the  sword  to-night.' 

"  In  the  evening,  after  dinner :  '  I  fought  my 
way  in.  His  name  was  Banier — Banier — Banier. 
The  sword  was  lying  on  a  table  by  a  written 
scheme  of  defence.  Oh,  my  head  !  Banier  had 
a  plan  written  out  for  defence  of  the  fortress.  It 
was  lying  on  the  table,  and  his  sword  was  by  it. 


VER1FICA  TION  OF  PL  A  NCHE  TTE.  173 

.  .  .  Look !  I  have  tried  to  tell  you  what  you 
can  verify.' ' 

Mr.  Wedgwood  reports  his  verification  as 
follows : — 

"  When  I  came  to  verify  the  messages  of  Plan- 
chette,  I  speedily  found  that  Col.  Gurwood,  the 
editor  of  the  duke's  dispatches,  led  the  forlorn 
hope  at  the  storming  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo  in  1812 
(note  Planchette's  error  in  date),  and  received  a 
wound  in  his  skull  from  a  musket-ball,  'which 
affected  him  for  the  remainder  of  his  life,'  (An- 
nual Register,  1845).  ^n  recognition  of  the  brav- 
ery shown  on  that  occasion,  he  received  a  grant 
of  arms  in  1812,  registered  in  the  College  of  Arms 
as  having  been  passed  '  upon  the  narrative  that  he 
(Capt.  G.)  had  led  the  forlorn  hope  at  Ciudad 
Rodrigo,  and  that  after  the  storming  of  the  fortress 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  presented  him  with  the 
sword  of  the  governor  who  had  been  taken 
prisoner  by  Capt.  Gurwood.'  " 

The  services  thus  specified  were  symbolized  in 
the  crest,  described  in  the  "  Book  of  Family 
Crests " :  "  Out  of  a  mural  coronet,  a  castle 
ruined  in  the  centre,  and  therefrom  an  arm  in 
armor  embowed,  holding  a  cimeter." 

It  was  evidently  this  crest  that  Planchette  was 
trying  to  sketch.  The  Annual  Register  of  1845 


174     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

also  confirms  Planchette's  assertion  that  Col.  Gur- 
wood  killed  himself  on  Christmas  Day  of  that 
year,  and  adds :  "  It  is  thought  that  this  laborious 
undertaking  (editing  the  dispatches)  produced  a 
relaxation  of  the  nervous  system  and  consequent 
depression  of  spirits.  In  a  fit  of  despondency  the 
unfortunate  gentleman  terminated  his  life."  Com- 
pare Planchette  :  "  Pen  was  too  much  for  me  after 
the  wound." 

Here  are  described  four  instances  of  automatic 
writing  by  means  of  Planchette.  Two  of  these 
cases  were  reported  to  Mr.  Myers,  who  has  thor- 
oughly canvassed  them  as  regards  their  authen- 
ticity, as  well  as  the  ability  and  good  faith  of  the 
persons  concerned,  both  in  the  writing  and  report- 
ing ;  and  he  has  made  use  of  them  in  his  own  able 
argument  upon  the  same  subject. 

In  the  other  cases  the  messages  were  written 
under  my  own  observation,  my  own  hands  also 
being  upon  the  board.  In  the  case  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Newnham  the  intelligence  which  furnished 
the  messages  disclaimed  altogether  the  aid  of  any 
spirit  except  "wife's  spirit,"  which  did  "uncon- 
sciously guide."  In  the  case  reported  by  Mr. 
Wedgwood  and  Mrs.  R.,  the  intelligence  distinctly 
claimed  to  be  from  Col.  John  Gurwood,  who  had 
died  nearly  fifty  years  before.  In  my  own  cases, 


MESS  A  GES  ANAL  YZED.  175 

in  that  written  with  the  co-operation  of  my  friend's 
school-girl  daughter,  the  intelligence  claimed  to  be 
that  of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  while  in  those  written 
with  Miss  V.,  various  names  were  given,  none  of 
which  was  recognized  as  belonging  to  a  person  of 
whom  we  had  ever  had  any  knowledge,  and  all 
bore  abundant  evidence  of  being  fictitious.  One, 
indeed,  professed  to  be  "  Beecher,"  and  declined 
to  give  an  opinion  on  the  prospective  trotting 
qualities  of  a  colt,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  "  no 
horseman  "  ;  and  in  our  later  experiments,  when 
closely  questioned,  it  distinctly  stated  that  the 
intelligence  came  from  the  mind  of  Miss  V. 
herself. 

Let  us  analyze  these  messages  a  little  further. 
Those  written  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Newnham  were 
remarkable,  not  only  because  Mrs.  Newnham  was 
writing  without  any  conscious  knowledge  of  what 
was  being  written,  but  neither  had  she  any 
conscious  knowledge  of  the  questions  to  which  she 
was  writing  the  answers.  Evidently,  then,  her  own 
ordinary  consciousness  was  not  acting  at  all  in  the 
matter  regarding  either  the  questions  or  answers, 
for  she  was  fully  awake,  in  her  normal  condition, 
and  perfectly  competent  to  judge  of  her  own 
mental  state  and  actions.  Nevertheless,  there  was 
some  intelligence  acting  reasonably  and  con- 


176     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

sciously,  and  making  use  of  her  hand  to  register 
its  thoughts. 

In  a  former  chapter  I  have  described  and  illus- 
trated a  somewhat  unusual  mental  phenomenon, 
to  which  the  name  thought-transference,  or  telep- 
athy, has  been  given ;  and  in  another  I  have 
endeavored  to  demonstrate  the  existence  of  a 
secondary  or  subliminal  self  or  personality. 

If  I  mistake  not,  it  is  here,  in  these  two  com- 
paratively little  known  and,  until  recently,  little 
studied,  psychical  conditions,  that  we  shall  find 
the  key  to  message-bearing  automatism,  as  well 
as  other  manifestations  of  intelligence  which 
have  heretofore  been  considered  mysterious  and 
occult.  Applying  this  key  to  the  Newnham 
Planchette-writing,  the  secondary  personality  or 
subliminal  self  of  Mrs.  Newnham  took  imme- 
diate cognizance  of  the  questions  silently  and 
secretly  written  out  by  her  husband,  although 
they  were  utterly  unknown  to  her  ordinary  or 
primary  self,  and  made  use  of  her  hands  to  com- 
municate the  answer. 

The  answer,  also,  was  of  course  unknown  to 
her  primary  self,  but  her  subliminal  self,  in  addi- 
tion to  its  own  private  and  constant  stock  of 
knowledge  and  opinions,  had  the  advantage  of 
more  subtle  means  of  securing  other  knowledge 


SO  URGES  OF  IN  FORM  A  TION.  1 7  7 

necessary  for  a  proper  answer,  and  so  sought  it 
in  her  husband's  mind,  or  wherever  it  could  be 
obtained.  The  sources  of  infoimation  accessible 
to  the  subliminal  self,  through  means  analogous 
to  those  which  have  been  named — thought-trans- 
ference and  telepathy — are  certainly  various,  and 
their  limit  is  not  yet  known.  We  may  mention, 
however,  in  this  connection,  besides  the  mind  of 
the  automatic  writer — the  mind  of  the  questioner, 
and  also  the  minds  of  other  persons  present,  in 
any  or  all  of  which  may  be  stored  up  knowledge 
or  impressions  of  which  the  ordinary  conscious- 
ness or  memory  retains  no  trace  ;  it  may  be  a 
scene  witnessed  in  childhood ;  a  newspaper  par- 
agraph read  many  years  ago ;  a  casual  remark 
overheard,  but  not  even  noticed — all  these  and 
many  more  are  sources  of  information  upon  which 
the  subliminal  self  may  draw  for  answers,  which, 
when  written  out  by  the  automatist,  seem  abso- 
lutely marvellous,  not  to  say  miraculous  or  super- 
natural. 

Thus,  the  prayer  at  the  ceremony  of  the  ad- 
vancement of  a  Mark  Master  Mason,  although 
language  entirely  unfamiliar  to  Mrs.  Newnham, 
was  perfectly  familiar  to  her  husband,  who  was 
himself  a  Mason,  and,  I  believe,  a  chaplain  in  the 
order  ;  and  while  the  form  was  not  one  actually 

12 


178     TELEPATHY  AND  TtfE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

used,  it  contained  strictly  accurate  technicalities, 
and  would  have  been  perfectly  appropriate  to  such 
an  occasion. 

The  messages  written  by  Mr.  Wedgwood  and 
Mrs.  R.  profess  to  come  directly  from  the  spirit 
of  Colonel  Gurwood  ;  but  without  absolutely  dis- 
carding that  theory,  having  the  key  to  which  I 
have  referred,  let  us  see  if  such  a  supposition  is 
necessary  to  explain  the  facts. 

It  may  be  conceded  at  once  that  neither  Mr. 
Wedgwood  nor  either  of  the  ladies  with  whom  he 
wrote  had  any  conscious  knowledge  of  Col.  Gur- 
wood— his  military  career,  or  his  sad  taking  off ; 
but  they  were  all  intelligent  people.  John  Gur- 
wood, as  it  turned  out,  was  a  noted  man ;  he  was 
an  officer  in  the  Peninsular  War,  under  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  performed  an  act  of  special  bravery 
and  daring,  in  the  performance  of  which  he  was 
severely  wounded,  and  for  which  he  was  after- 
ward granted  a  coat  of  arms.  He  was  also  after- 
ward chosen  to  edit  the  duke's  dispatches.  All 
this  was  recorded  in  the  Annual  Register  for 
1845,  soon  after  Gurwood's  death,  together  with 
a  description  in  the  language  of  heraldry  of  the 
crest  or  coat  of  arms  which  had  been  granted  him 
many  years  before. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  that  such  an  event  would 


OPEN  TO  SUBLIMINAL  SELF.  179 

not  have  been  noticed  in  the  newspapers  at  the 
time  of  Gurwood's  death,  and  nothing  is  more 
probable  than  that  some  of  these  intelligent  per- 
sons had  read  these  accounts,  or  as  children  heard 
them  read  or  referred  to,  though  they  may  now 
have  been  entirely  absent  from  their  ordinary 
consciousness  and  memory.  At  all  events,  the 
subliminal  self  or  secondary  consciousness  of 
Mrs.  R.,  whom  Planchette  designates  as  "  the 
medium,"  or  of  Mr.  Wedgwood,  may  have  come 
into  relationship  with  the  sources  of  information 
necessary  to  furnish  the  messages  which  it  com- 
municated, and  these  sources  may  have  been  the 
knowledge  or  impressions  unconsciously  received 
many  years  before  by  some  of  those  present,  the 
generally  diffused  knowledge  of  these  facts  which 
doubtless  prevailed  in  the  community  at  the 
time  of  Gurwood's  death,  and  the  full  printed  ac- 
counts of  these  events,  many  copies  of  which 
were  extant. 

From  the  description  of  Gurwood's  coat  of  arms 
the  idea  could  easily  have  been  obtained  which 
Planchette  rudely  represented  in  drawing,  con- 
stituting what  is  called  a  test,  and  also  the  other 
knowledge  concerning  his  military  career  and 
death  which  appeared  in  the  various  messages. 

Regarding  cases  coming  under  my  own  obser- 


180     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

vation,  the  incident  relating  to  Peter  Stuyvesant's 
pear  tree  was  well  known  to  us  both,  and  had  only 
recently  been  a  matter  of  general  conversation, 
and  all  of  those  present  had  a  more  or  less  dis- 
tinct idea  of  Peter  Stuyvesant  himself,  derived 
from  Irving's  "  Knickerbocker's  History  of  New 
York." 

Of  the  cases  observed  with  Miss  V.,  as  before 
stated,  nearly  all  the  names  given  of  "  authorities," 
as  we  called  them,  were  evidently  fictitious, 
scarcely  one  being  recognized,  and  none  were  of 
persons  with  whom  we  had  any  connection,  and 
some  did  not  claim  any  other  origin  than  our 
subliminal  consciousness,  as  was  also  the  case  with 
messages  written  by  Mrs.  Newnham. 

If,  then,  some  of  the  messages  are  surely  the 
work  of  the  subliminal  self  of  the  writer,  aided  by 
its  more  acute  and  more  far-reaching  perceptions, 
and  if  nearly  all  may  be  accounted  for  in  the 
same  way,  the  probability  that  all  such  messages 
have  the  same  origin  is  greatly  increased,  and  in 
the  same  degree  the  necessity  for  the  spiritualistic 
theory  is  diminished,  since  it  is  evident  that  of 
two  theories  for  explaining  a  new  fact  we  should 
accept  that  one  which  better  harmonizes  with 
facts  already  established. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

AUTOMATIC  WRITING,   DRAWING  AND  PAINTING. 

THE  subject  of  Automatism  has  thus  far  been 
illustrated  by  reference  to  Planchette-writing 
alone.  It  was  selected  because  it  is  the  kind  most 
frequently  seen  and  most  easily  proved  by  ex- 
periment. The  little  instrument  Planchette,  how- 
ever, is  not  essential ;  it  is  used  because,  being 
placed  on  casters,  it  is  more  easily  moved. 

The  Chinese,  long  ago,  used  for  the  same  pur- 
pose a  little  basket,  with  style  attached,  placed 
upon  two  even  chopsticks. 

The  same  results  also  occur  with  some  persons 
when  the  pencil  is  simply  held  in  the  usual  man- 
ner for  writing.  The  hand  then  being  allowed  to 
remain  perfectly  passive,  automatic  movements 
first  take  place — the  hand  moving  round  and 
round  or  across  the  paper,  and  then  follows  writ- 
ing or  drawing,  as  the  case  may  be.  Some  per- 
sons produce  written  messages  in  mirror  writing 
— that  is,  reversed — or  so  written  that  it  can  only 


182     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

be  easily  read  by  causing  it  to  be  reflected  in  a 
mirror.  This  kind  of  writing  is  sometimes  pro- 
duced on  the  first  attempt  of  the  experimenter, 
and  even  by  young  children  without  any  experi- 
ence or  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

As  previously  shown,  different  strata  of  con- 
sciousness may,  and  in  some  well  observed  cases, 
most  certainly  do,  exist  in  the  same  individual. 
In  these  well  observed  cases,  each  separate  con- 
sciousness had  its  own  distinct  chain  of  memories 
and  its  own  characteristics  and  peculiarities  ;  and 
these  distinct  chains  of  memories  and  well  defined 
characteristics  constitute,  so  far  as  we  can  judge, 
distinct  personalities.  At  all  events,  they  are 
centres  of  intelligence  and  mental  activity  which 
are  altogether  independent  of  the  ordinary,  every- 
day consciousness  or  personality,  and  often  alto- 
gether superior  to  it.  Accordingly  this  other 
centre  of  intelligence  and  mental  activity  has 
been  named  the  second  personality  or  subliminal 
self ;  that  is,  a  consciousness  or  self  or  personality 
beneath  the  threshold,  so  to  speak,  of  the  ordi- 
nary or  primary  self. 

Ansel  Bourne  and  A.  J.  Brown  were  separate 
and  distinct  personalities,  having  entirely  distinct, 
and  apparently  unrelated,  chains  of  memory,  dis- 
tinct characteristics,  opinions,  and  peculiarities, 


PERSONALITIES  ACT  INDEPENDENTL  Y.    \ 83 

acting  at  different  times  through  the  same 
body. 

Ansel  Bourne  was  the  usual  or  primary  person- 
ality ;  A.  J.  Brown  was  a  second  personality,  a 
separate  focus  of  intelligence  and  mental  activity, 
a  subliminal  self.  What  the  exact  relationship 
existing  between  these  two  personalities  may  be 
we  do  not  attempt  at  present  to  explain ;  but 
that  they  exist  and  act  independent  of  each 
other  we  know.  In  other  instances,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, that  of  Madame  B.,  the  hypnotic  sub- 
ject of  Prof.  Janet  of  Havre,  and  also  that  of 
Alma  Z.,  we  have  been  able  to  observe  these 
separate  centres  of  intelligence,  these  distinct 
personalities,  both  in  action  at  the  same  time, 
upon  altogether  separate  and  unrelated  subjects. 
Sometimes  the  subliminal  self  takes  full  control, 
making  itself  the  active  ruling  personality  to  the 
entire  exclusion  of  the  primary  self  ;  and  some- 
times it  only  sends  messages  to  the  primary  or 
ordinary  self,  by  suggestion,  mental  pictures,  or 
vivid  impressions  made  upon  the  organs  of  sense 
and  producing  the  sensation  of  seeing,  hearing,  or 
touch. 

To  illustrate  these  different  methods  of  com- 
munication between  the  ordinary  and  subliminal 
self,  suppose  an  individual,  whom  we  will  desig- 


1 84     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

nate  as  X.,  manifests  this  peculiar  condition  of 
double  consciousness.  As  we  have  seen,  the  sub- 
liminal self  often  takes  cognizance  of  things  con- 
cerning which  the  ordinary  self  is  entirely  igno- 
rant, but  it  may  not  always  have  the  power  to 
impress  the  primary  self  with  this  knowledge,  nor 
to  take  full  possession,  so  as  to  be  able  to  impart 
it  to  others  by  speaking  or  writing.  This  is  the 
usual  condition  of  most  persons ;  with  some 
peculiarly  constituted  persons,  however,  the  pos- 
sibility of  being  so  impressed  surely  exists, 
and  with  them  these  impressions  are  direct  and 
vivid. 

Our  individual,  X.,  is  one  in  whom  this  ability 
to  receive  impressions  in  this  manner  exists. 

To  illustrate:  Suppose  first  that  X.  is  asleep, 
is  taking  his  after-dinner  nap,  and  that  children 
playing  in  his  grounds  have  set  fire  to  some  straw 
in  close  proximity  to  buildings  near  by.  No  one 
notices  the  danger.  X.  is  asleep,  but  his  subli- 
minal self  is  on  the  alert — like  the  second  self  of 
the  somnambulist  or  subject  in  the  hypnotic 
trance — it  sees  that  unless  checked  there  will  be 
a  destructive  conflagration.  It  impresses  upon 
X.  a  dream  of  fire  so  vivid  that  he  wakes  in 
alarm,  discovers  the  mischief  and  averts  the 
danger.  Or  suppose  X.  to  be  awake  and  sitting 


DIFFERENT  FORMS  OF  A  UTOMA  TISM.       185 

in  his  office  in  a  distant  part  of  the  house,  quite 
unconscious  of  anything  unusual.  All  at  once  he 
becomes  restless,  unable  to  pursue  his  work ;  he 
is  impelled  to  leave  his  desk,  to  go  out,  to  walk  in 
the  direction  of  the  fire,  and  thus  become  aware  of 
the  danger.  Or  again,  that  X.  is  an  automatic 
writer — that  paper  and  pencil  are  at  hand  and  he 
receives  a  sudden  impulse  to  write.  He  has  no 
knowledge  of  what  he  is  writing,  but  upon  ex- 
amination he  finds  it  a  warning  to  look  after  the 
threatening  fire  ;  or  still  again,  that  he  hears  a 
voice  distinctly  saying,  "  Look  out  for  fire ; "  or 
sees  a  distinct  picture  of  the  place  and  circum- 
stances of  the  fire  ;  all  these  are  possible  methods 
by  which  the  subliminal  self  might  communicate  to 
X.,  the  ordinary  personality,  the  danger  which 
was  threatening. 

Automatism,  therefore,  does  not  necessarily 
take  the  form  of  written  messages,  but  may  take 
any  form  by  which  the  subliminal  self  can  best 
transmit  its  message  to  the  primary  self — or  in 
the  same  way  from  one  person  to  another,  whether 
by  words  written  or  spoken  automatically — by 
voices  heard,  by  action  influenced,  as  when  X.  is 
influenced  to  leave  his  office  and  walk,  or  the 
mischievous  L£ontine  unties  the  apron  of  Le"  onie, 
or  by  vision  or  vivid  mental  picture,  as  when  Peter 


l86     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

sees  a  "  sheet  let  down  by  the  four  corners,"  from 
which  he  learns  an  important  lesson. 

The  messages  received  automatically  may  not 
all  be  true  ;  they  may  be  trivial  and  even  false ; 
on  the  other  hand,  they  may  not  only  be  true  and 
important  but  they  may  convey  information  quite 
out  of  the  power  of  the  primary  self  to  acquire  by 
any  ordinary  use  of  the  senses.  Nor  need  we  be 
greatly  surprised  at  this  ;  it  is  a  normal  function 
of  the  subliminal  self ;  with  some  persons  that 
function  is  active,  with  others  it  is  dormant,  but 
in  all,  at  sojne  moment  in  life,  circumstances 
may  arise  which  shall  awaken  that  function  into 
activity. 

A  remarkable  example  of  messages  received  by 
automatic  writing  is  that  furnished  by  Mr.  W.  T. 
Stead,  occurring  in  his  own  experience.  Mr. 
Stead  is  a  well-known  author,  journalist,  and 
the  editor  of  the  London  edition  of  the  Review  of 
Reviews,  in  which  magazine  his  experiences  have, 
on  various  occasions,  been  published. 

As  he  regards  the  matter,  there  is  an  invisible 
intelligence  which  controls  his  hand,  but  the  per- 
sons with  whom  he  is  in  communication  are  alive 
and  visible — for  instance  his  own  son  on  various  oc- 
casions, also  persons  in  his  employ,  writers  upon  his 
magazine,  casual  acquaintances,  and  even  strangers. 


MR.  STEAD'S  AUTOMATIC  WRITING.         187 

None  of  these  persons  participate  in  any  active 
or  conscious  way  in  the  communications.  Mr. 
F.  W.  H.  Myers  has  often  conversed  with  Mr. 
Stead  and  with  several  of  his  involuntary  corre- 
spondents in  relation  to  the  phenomena,  and  the 
facts  are  so  simple  and  open,  and  the  persons 
connected  with  them  so  intelligent  and  evidently 
sincere  and  truthful,  that  no  doubt  can  be  enter- 
tained as  to  the  reality  of  the  incidents,  however 
they  may  be  interpreted. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  involun- 
tary correspondents  is  known  as  Miss  A.,  a  lady 
employed  by  him  in  literary  work  of  an  important 
character.  She  testifies  in  regard  to  the  matter : 
"  I,  the  subject  of  Mr.  Stead's  automatic  writing, 
known  as  '  A./  testify  to  the  correctness  of  the 
statements  made  in  this  report.  I  would  like  to 
add  what  I  think  more  wonderful  than  many 
things  Mr.  Stead  has  cited,  namely,  the  correct- 
ness with  which,  on  several  occasions,  he  has  given 
the  names  of  persons  whom  he  has  never  seen  nor 
heard  of  before.  I  remember  on  one  occasion 
a  person  calling  upon  me  with  a  very  uncommon 
name.  The  next  day  I  saw  Mr.  Stead  and  he 
read  to  me  what  his  hand  had  written  of  the  visit 
of  that  person,  giving  the  name  absolutely  cor- 
rectly. Mr.  Stead  has  never  seen  that  person, 


1 88     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

and  until  then  had  no  knowledge  of  his  exist- 
ence." 

The  following  is  a  description  of  a  journey  made 
by  Miss  A.,  automatically  written  by  Mr.  Stead, 
he  at  the  time  not  having  the  slightest  knowledge 
where  she  was,  what  she  was  doing,  or  that  she 
intended  making  any  such  journey.  The  slight 
inaccuracies  are  noted  : — 

"  I  went  to  the  Waterloo  station  by  the  twelve 
o'clock  train,  and  got  to  Hampton  Court  about 
one.  When  we  got  out  we  went  to  a  hotel  and 
had  dinner.  It  cost  nearly  three  shillings.  After 
dinner  I  went  -to  the  picture-galleries.  I  was 
very  much  pleased  with  the  paintings  of  many  of 
the  ceilings.  I  was  interested  in  most  of  the 
portraits  of  Lely.  After  seeing  the  galleries  I 
went  into  the  grounds.  How  beautiful  they  are  • 
I  saw  a  great  vine,  that  lovely  English  garden' 
the  avenue  of  elms,  the  canal,  the  great  water 
sheet,  the  three  views,  the  fountain,  the  gold 
fishes,  and  then  lost  myself  in  the  maze.  I  got 
home  about  nine  o'clock.  It  cost  me  altogether 
about  six  shillings."  On  communicating  this  to 
Miss  A.  she  found  that  everything  was  correct 
with  two  exceptions.  She  went  down  by  the 
two  o'clock  train  instead  of  the  twelve,  and  got  to 
Hampton  Court  about  three.  The  dinner  cost 


A  STRANGERS  NEEDS  INDICATED.         189 

her  two  and  elevenpence,  which  was  nearly  three 
shillings,  and  the  total  was  six  and  threepence. 
The  places  were  visited  in  the  order  mentioned. 

A  second  instance  was  where  the  needs  of  a 
comparative  stranger  were  written  out  by  Mr. 
Stead's  hand.  Mr.  Stead  goes  on  to  say  :  "  Last 
February  I  met  a  correspondent  in  a  railway  car- 
riage with  whom  I  had  a  very  casual  acquaint- 
ance. Knowing  that  he  was  in  considerable  dis- 
tress, our  conversation  fell  into  a  more  or  less 
confidential  train  in  which  I  divined  that  his  diffi- 
culty was  chiefly  financial.  I  said  I  did  not  know 
whether  I  could  be  of  any  help  to  him,  but  asked 
him  to  let  me  know  exactly  how  things  stood — 
what  were  his  debts,  his  expectations,  and  so 
forth.  He  said  he  really  could  not  tell  me,  and  I 
refrained  from  pressing  him. 

"  That  night  I  received  a  letter  from  him 
apologizing  for  not  having  given  the  information, 
but  saying  he  really  could  not.  I  received  that 
letter  about  ten  o'clock,  and  about  two  o'clock 
next  morning,  before  going  to  sleep,  I  sat  down 
in  my  bedroom  and  said:  'You  did  not  like  to 
tell  me  your  exact  financial  condition  face  to  face, 
but  now  you  can  do  so  through  my  hand.  Just 
write  and  tell  me  exactly  how  things  stand. 
How  much  money  do  you  owe  ? '  My  hand  wrote, 


190     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

'  My  debts  are  ,£90.'  In  answer  to  a  further  in- 
quiry whether  the  figures  were  accurately  stated, 
'  ninety  pounds '  was  then  written  in  full.  '  Is 
that  all  ? '  I  asked.  My  hand  wrote  '  Yes,  and 
how  I  am  to  pay  I  do  jiot  know.'  '  Well,'  I  said ; 
'  how  much  do  you  want  for  that  piece  of  prop- 
erty you  wish  to  sell  ? '  My  hand  wrote,  '  What 
I  hope  is,  say,  £100  for  that.  It  seems  a  great 
deal,  but  I  must  get  money  somehow.  Oh,  if  I 
could  get  anything  to  do — I  would  gladly  do  any- 
thing !'  'What  does  it  cost  you  to  live?'  I 
asked.  My  hand  wrote,  '  I  do  not  think  I  could 
possibly  live  under  .£200  a  year.  If  I  were  alone 
I  could  live  on  £50  per  annum.' 

"  The  next  day  I  made  a  point  of  seeking  my 
friend.  He  said  :  '  I  hope  you  were  not  offended 
at  my  refusing  to  tell  you  my  circumstances,  but 
really  I  do  not  think  it  would  be  right  to  trouble 
you  with  them.'  I  said  :  '  I  am  not  offended  in 
the  least,  and  I  hope  you  will  not  be  offended 
when  I  tell  you  what  I  have  done.'  I  then  ex- 
plained this  automatic,  telepathic  method  of  com- 
munication. I  said :  '  I  do  not  know  whether 
there  is  a  word  of  truth  in  what  my  hand  has 
written.  I  hesitate  at  telling  you,  for  I  confess  I 
think  the  sum  which  was  written  as  the  amount 
of  your  debts  cannot  be  correctly  stated  ;  it  seems 


THE  INDICATIONS  CORROBORATED.        191 

to  me  much  too  small,  considering  the  distress  in 
which  you  seemed  to  be ;  therefore  I  will  read 
you  that  first,  and  if  that  is  right  I  will  read  you 
the  rest ;  but  if  it  is  wrong  I  will  consider  it  is 
rubbish  and  that  your  mind  in  no  way  influenced 
my  hand.'  He  was  interested  but  incredulous. 
But,  I  said,  '  Before  I  read  you  anything  will 
you  form  a  definite  idea  in  your  mind  as  to  how 
much  your  debts  amount  to ;  secondly,  as  to  the 
amount  of  money  you  hope  to  get  for  that  prop- 
erty ;  thirdly,  what  it  costs  you  to  keep  up  your 
establishment  with  your  relatives  ;  and  fourthly, 
what  you  could  live  upon  if  you  were  by  your- 
self ? '  '  Yes,'  he  said,  *  I  have  thought  of  all 
those  things.'  I  then  read  out.  'The  amount 
of  your  debts  is  about  £90.'  He  started.  '  Yes,' 
he  said,  '  that  is  right.'  Then  I  said:  '  As  that  is 
right  I  will  read  the  rest.  You  hope  to  get  ;£ioo 
for  your  property.'  '  Yes,'  he  said,  '  that  was  the 
figure  that  was  in  my  mind,  though  I  hesitated 
to  mention  it  for  it  seems  too  much.'  '  You  say 
you  cannot  live  upon  less  than  ^200  a  year  with 
your  present  establishment.'  '  Yes,'  he  said, 
'  that  is  exactly  right.'  '  But  if  you  were  by  your- 
self you  could  live  on  ,£50  a  year.'  *  Well,'  said 
he,  '  a  pound  a  week  was  what  I  had  fixed  in  my 
mind.'  Therefore  there  had  been  a  perfectly 


192     TELE f 'A  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

accurate  transcription  of  the  thoughts  in  the 
mind  of  a  comparative  stranger  written  out  with 
my  own  hand  at  a  time  when  we  were  at  a  dis- 
tance  of  some  miles  apart,  within  a  few  hours  of 
the  time  when  he  had  written  apologizing  for  not 
having  given  me  the  information  for  which  I  had 
asked." 

In  the  following  case  the  correspondent  is  a 
foreign  lady,  doing  some  work  for  the  Review, 
but  whom  Mr.  Stead  had  only  met  once  in  his 
life.  On  the  occasion  now  referred  to  he  was  to 
meet  her  at  Redcar  Station  at  about  three  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  He  was  stopping  at  a  house 
ten  minutes'  walk  from  the  station,  and  it  occurred 
to  him  that  "  about  three  o'clock,"  as  mentioned 
in  her  letter,  might  mean  before  three ;  and  it 
was  now  only  twenty  minutes  of  three.  No  time- 
table was  at  hand :  he  simply  asked  her  to  use 
his  hand  to  tell  him  what  time  the  train  was  due. 
This  was  done  without  ever  having  had  any  com- 
munication with  her  upon  the  subject  of  automatic 
writing.  She  (by  Mr.  Stead's  hand)  immediately 
wrote  her  name,  and  said  the  train  was  due  at 
Redcar  Station  at  ten  minutes  of  three.  Accord- 
ingly he  had  to  leave  at  once — but  before  starting 
he  said,  "  Where  are  you  at  this  moment?  "  The 
answer  came,  "  I  am  in  the  train  at  Middlesborough 


COMMUNICATING  WITH  A   TRAVELLER.    193 

railway   station,  on  my  way  from    Hartpool  to 
Redcar." 

On  arriving  at  the  station  he  consulted  the  time- 
table and  found  the  train  was  due  at  2  :  52.  The 
train,  however,  was  late.  At  three  o'clock  it  had 
not  arrived  ;  at  five  minutes  past  three,  getting 
uneasy  at  the  delay,  he  took  paper  and  pencil 
in  his  hand  and  asked  where  she  was. 

Her  name  was  at  once  written  and  there  was 
added :  "  I  am  in  the  train  rounding  the  curve 
before  you  come  to  Redcar  Station — I  will  be 
with  you  in  a  minute." 

"  Why  the  mischief  have  you  been  so  late?  "  he 
mentally  asked.  His  hand  wrote,  "We  were 
detained  at  Middlesborough  so  long — I  don't 
know  why." 

He  put  the  paper  in  his  pocket  and  walked  to 
the  end  of  the  platform  just  as  the  train  came 
in. 

He  immediately  went  to  his  friend  and  ex- 
claimed : — "  How  late  you  are !  What  on  earth 
has  been  the  matter?"  To  which  she  replied: 
"  I  do  not  know ;  the  train  stopped  so  long  at 
Middlesborough — it  seemed  as  if  it  never  would 
start." 

This  narrative  was  fully  corroborated  by  the 
lady  who  was  the  passenger  referred  to. 
'3 


i94   TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

In  all  these  cases  it  should  be  noticed  the  so- 
called  correspondent  took  no  active  part  in  the 
experiment,  was  not  conscious  of  communicating 
anything,  nor  of  trying  to  do  so  ;  nor  is  there  any 
evidence  of  a  third  party  or  any  intervening  in- 
telligence or  personality ;  but  the  subliminal  self 
of  the  writer  went  forth  and  acquired  the  needed 
information  and  transferred  it  automatically  to  the 
primary  self,  as  was  the  case  in  the  Planchette- 
writing  of  Mrs.  Newnham  and  the  Wedgwood 
cases. 

During  the  years  1874  and  1875  I  had  under 
my  care  Mrs.  Juliette  T.  Burton,  the  wife  of  a 
physician  who  came  to  New  York  from  the  South 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  She  was  a  woman  of 
refinement,  education,  and  excellent  literary 
ability.  She  wrote  with  unusual  facility,  and  her 
articles  were  accepted  by  newspapers  and  mag- 
azines, and  brought  her  a  considerable  income. 
I  knew  her  well,  and  her  honesty,  good  faith, 
and  strong  common-sense  were  conspicuous.  She 
died  of  phthisis  in  1875.  It  is  to  her  varied  auto- 
matic powers  as  illustrating  our  subject  that  I 
would  call  attention. 

Many  of  her  best  articles  were  prepared  with- 
out conscious  effort  of  her  own,  either  physical  or 
mental ;  she  simply  prepared  pencils  and  paper, 


A UTOMA  TIC  £>RA  WING  AND  PAINTING.     195 

became  passive,  and  her  hand  wrote.  Sometimes 
she  had  a  plan  to  write  up  a  certain  subject,  and 
sometimes  the  subject  as  well  as  the  matter  came 
automatically. 

She  knew  that  she  was  writing,  but  of  what 
was  written  she  had  no  knowledge  until  she  read 
her  own  manuscript. 

She  had  no  talent  for  drawing  nor  for  painting  ; 
she  could  not,  in  her  ordinary  condition,  draw  a 
face,  nor  even  a  leaf,  which  could  be  recognized. 
Soon  after  coming  to  New  York  she  began  to  see 
faces  and  other  pictures  before  her  on  the  blank 
paper  and  to  sketch  them  with  marvellous  rapidity 
and  exactness,  all  in  the  same  automatic  manner 
as  that  in  which  she  did  her  writing.  These 
drawings  were  not  crude,  but  were  strongly  char- 
acteristic and  were  delicately  done  with  ordinary 
lead  pencils,  several  of  which  were  prepared  before- 
hand with  sharp  delicate  points.  I  remember  one 
drawing  in  particular — a  man's  head  about  half 
life-size,  with  full  flowing  beard.  At  first  glance 
there  was  nothing  peculiar  about  the  picture, 
except  that  one  would  say  that  it  was  a  strong 
and  characteristic  face ;  but  on  close  examina- 
tion in  a  strong  light,  and  especially  through  a 
reading-glass,  the  beard  was  seen  to  be  made  up 
entirely  of  exceedingly  minute  faces  of  sheep ; 


196     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 

every  face  was  perfectly  formed  and  characteristic, 
and  there  were  thousands  of  them.  It  was  done 
with  the  same  wonderful  rapidity  which  charac- 
terized all  her  automatic  work. 

Later  she  was  impelled  to  procure  colors, 
brushes,  and  all  the  materials  for  painting  in  oil ; 
and  although  she  had  never  even  seen  that  kind 
of  work  done,  and  had  not  the  slightest  idea  how 
to  mix  the  colors  to  produce  desired  tints,  nor 
how  to  apply  them  to  produce  desired  effects,  yet 
at  a  single  sitting  in  a  darkened  room  she  pro- 
duced a  head  of  singular  strength  arid  character 
and  possessing  at  least  some  artistic  merit.  Cer- 
tainly no  one  could  imagine  it  to  be  the  first  at- 
tempt of  a  person  entirely  without  natural  talent 
for  either  drawing  or  painting.  It  was  done  on 
common  brown  cardboard,  and  it  has  been  in  my 
possession  for  the  past  twenty-two  years.  The 
reproduction  which  appears  as  frontispiece  to  the 
present  volume  gives  some  idea  of  its  character. 

The  impression  received  by  the  painter  was 
that  it  was  the  portrait  of  an  Englishman  named 
Nathan  Early.*  No  date  was  assigned. 

As  a  further  illustration  of  her  automatic  power, 
it  may  be  mentioned  that  another  uncultivated 
faculty  developed  itself,  namely,  the  power  of 

*  See  Frontispiece. 


PSYCHOMETRIC  POWER.  197 

referring  to  past  events  in  the  lives  of  those  who 
were  in  her  presence.  The  knowledge  of  past 
events  so  conveyed  was  frequently  most  remark- 
able and  was  circumstantially  correct,  even  rival- 
ling in  this  respect  the  reports  which  we  have  of 
Jung-Stilling  and  Zschokke. 


CHAPTER  IX, 

CRYSTAL-GAZING. 

AUTOMATIC  messages  fall  naturally  into  two 
general  classes :  (i)  Motor  messages,  or  those  re- 
ceived by  means  of  writing,  speaking,  drawing,  or 
some  activity  of  the  body ,  and  (2)  sensory  mes- 
sages, or  those  received  passively  by  means  of  an 
impression  made  upon  some  of  the  senses,  as,  for 
example,  seeing,  hearing,  or  feeling. 

The  motor  messages  spelt  out  by  raps  and 
table-tipping,  and  the  performances  of  trance- 
speakers  and  spiritualistic  mediums  need  not  de- 
tain us  at  present ,  so  far  as  the  messages  them- 
selves are  concerned  they  offer  no  new  elements 
for  consideration.  The  utterances  of  trance- 
speakers  as  a  rule  are  not  rich  in  verifiable  facts, 
though  some  of  their  performances  are  truly  re- 
markable as  presenting  a  phase  of  improvisation 
automatically  given ;  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  mediumistic  utterances  generally;  they  have 

the  same  value  as  automatic  writing,  whether  pro- 
198 


OTHER  METHODS  OF  A  UTOMA  TISM.         199 

duced  by  Planchette,  or  passively  holding  the 
pencil  in  the  hand  ;  and  so  far  as  they  are  honest 
they  probably  have  the  same  origin,  namely,  the 
secondary  consciousness  or  subliminal  self  of  the 
medium.  As  regards  the  force  which  makes  the 
raps  or  tips  the  table,  it  is  altogether  a  different 
subject  and  its  consideration  here  would  be  un- 
necessary and  out  of  place. 

I  hasten  to  present  cases  of  automatism  where 
the  messages  brought  are  given  by  other  means 
than  writing,  speaking,  or  any  movement  or 
activity  of  the  body,  but  which  belong  to  the 
sensory  class,  and  are  received  by  impressions 
made  upon  the  senses.  Of  these  the  most  com- 
mon are  those  made  upon  the  sense  of  sight. 

To  this  class  belong  visions,  dreams,  distinct 
mental  pictures  presented  under  widely  varying 
circumstances  and  conditions,  in  trance,  in  the 
hypnotic  condition,  in  sleep,  or  directly  conveyed 
to  the  primary  conscious  self.  To  simply  think 
how  a  person,  a  building,  or  a  landscape  looks  is 
one  thing,  but  to  have  a  full  mental  picture,  pos- 
sessing dimensions,  and  a  stability  which  admits 
of  being  closely  examined  in  detail,  is  quite  another 
thing. 

A  little  girl  of  my  acquaintance,  on  returning 
from  the  country  after  several  weeks  of  absence 


200     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

from  her  father,  said  to  him, — "  Why,  papa,  I  could 
have  you  with  me  whenever  I  liked,  this  summer, 
though  it  was  only  your  head  and  shoulders  that 
I  could  see  ;  but  I  could  place  you  where  I  liked 
and  could  look  at  you  a  long  time  before  you  went 
away."  Without  knowing  it  the  child  exactly 
described  a  true  vision — her  thought  of  her  father 
was  visualized,  externalized,  given  a  form  which 
had  definiteness,  which  could  be  placed  and 
examined  in  detail,  and  was  more  or  less  per- 
manent. 

Various  artificial  expedients  have  been  resorted 
to  in  order  to  assist  in  this  process  of  distinct 
visualization  ;  and  of  these  artificial  means  one  of 
the  most  important  and  effective  is  known  as 
crystal-gazing. 

It  is  a  fact  not  often  commented  upon — indeed 
not  often  alluded  to  in  general  literature — that  the 
crystal  has  from  the  earliest  times  been  made  use 
of  for  the  purpose  of  producing  visions,  and  for 
divination  and  prophecy.  Not  only  has  the 
crystal  been  used  for  this  purpose,  but  also  the 
mirror,  a  cup  or  glass  of  water  or  wine,  or  even 
some  dark  and  glistening  substance  like  treacle 
or  ink  poured  into  the  palm  of  the  hand,  have  all 
been  used  in  a  similar  manner.  The  same  practice 
is  still  observed  amongst  the  people  of  India  as 


CRYSTAL-GAZING  IN  EGYPT.  2OI 

well  as  the  Arabs  in  northern  Africa  and  other 
localities.  An  instance  or  two  at  the  outset  will 
illustrate  the  method  and  uses  of  the  procedure. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Lane,  in  his  "  Manners  and  Customs 
of  the  Modern  Egyptians,"  published  in  1836, 
gives  this  example  : — 

Mr.  Salt,  the  English  consul-general  to  that 
country,  had  greatly  interested  Mr.  Lane  by  some 
experiences  which  he  related,  and  had  thus  excited 
his  curiosity  to  witness  some  of  these  experiments 
himself.  Mr.  Salt  had  suspected  some  of  his  serv- 
ants of  theft,  but  could  not  decide  which  one 
was  guilty ;  so  it  was  arranged  to  test  the  powers 
of  some  of  the  native  seers.  Accordingly  a  ma- 
gician was  sent  for ;  a  boy  was  also  necessary  to 
act  as  seer,  or  as  we  would  say  crystal-gazer,  and 
for  this  purpose  Mr.  Salt  selected  one  himself. 

The  magician  wrote  several  charms,  consisting 
of  Arabic  words,  on  pieces  of  paper,  which  were 
burnt  in  a  brazier  with  a  charcoal  fire  along  with 
incense  and  perfumes.  He  then  drew  a  diagram 
in  the  palm  of  the  boy's  right  hand,  and  into  the 
middle  of  this  diagram  he  poured  some  ink.  He 
then  asked  the  boy  to  look  intently  at  the  ink  in 
the  palm  of  his  hand.  The  boy  soon  began  to  see 
figures  of  persons  in  the  ink,  and  presently  de- 
scribed the  thief  so  minutely  that  he  was  at  once 


202      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

recognized  by  Mr.  Salt,  and  on  being  arrested  and 
accused  of  the  crime  he  immediately  confessed 
his  guilt. 

Further  investigation  by  Mr.  Lane  and  Mr. 
Salt  furnished  other  interesting  results.  A  boy 
eight  or  nine  years  of  age  was  usually  chosen  at 
random  from  those  who  happened  to  be  passing 
by.  Invocations  were  written  upon  paper  by  the 
magician,  calling  upon  his  familiar  spirit,  and  also 
a  verse  from  the  Koran  "  to  open  the  boy's  eyes 
in  a  supernatural  manner  so  as  to  make  his  sight 
pierce  into  what  is  to  us  the  invisible  world." 
These  were  thrown  into  a  brazier  with  live  char- 
coal and  burned  with  aromatic  seeds  and  drugs. 
The  magic  square,  that  is  a  square  within  a  square, 
was  drawn  in  the  boy's  palm,  and  certain  Arabic 
characters  were  written  in  the  spaces  between  the 
squares  ;  ink  was  then  poured  into  the  centre,  and 
upon  that  the  boy  was  to  gaze  intently.  In  this 
way  visions  were  produced  and  various  persons  and 
scenes  were  described.  Finally,  Mr.  Lane  desired 
that  Lord  Nelson  should  be  called  for.  The  boy 
described  a  man  in  European  clothes  of  dark  blue, 
who  had  lost  his  left  arm  ;  but  looking  closer  he 
added — "  No,  it  is  placed  to  his  breast." 

Lord  Nelson  had  lost  his  right  arm  and  it  was 
his  custom  to  carry  the  empty  sleeve  attached  to 


CRYSTAL-GAZING  WIDELY  PRACTISED.     203 

his  breast.  Mr.  Lane  adds,  "  Without  saying 
that  I  suspected  the  boy  had  made  a  mistake  I 
asked  the  magician  whether  objects  appeared 
in  the  ink  as  if  actually  before  the  boy's  eyes,  or 
as  if  in  a  glass,  which  made  the  right  side  appear 
the  left?  He  replied,  'They  appear  as  in  a 
mirror,'  This  rendered  the  boy's  description 
faultless." 

It  is  remarkable  to  notice  how  prevalent  this 
mode  of  divination  or  second-sight  has  been  in 
all  ages.  Traces  of  the  same  procedure  have  been 
found  in  Egypt,  Persia,  China,  India,  Greece,  and 
Rome,  and  notably  in  Europe  generally,  from  the 
tenth  to  the  sixteenth  centuries.  A  lady  who 
withholds  her  name  from  the  public,  but  who  is 
perfectly  well  known  to  Mr.  Myers,  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research,  and  who  chooses  to  be 
known  as  Miss  X.,  has  been  at  great  pains  to  col- 
lect  curious  information  upon  this  subject  and  has 
added  her  own  very  interesting  experience  in  crys- 
tal-gazing. She  writes,  "  It  is  interesting  to  ob- 
serve the  close  resemblance  in  the  various  methods 
of  employing  the  mirror,  and  in  the  mystic  sym- 
bolism which  surrounds  it,  not  only  in  different 
ages,  but  in  different  countries.  From  the  time 
of  the  Assyrian  monarch  represented  on  the  walls 
of  the  northwest  palace  of  Nimrod  down  to  the 


204     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

seventeenth  century,  when  Dr.  Dee  placed  his 
'  Shew  Stone '  on  a  cushioned  table  in  the  goodly 
little  chapel  next  his  chamber  in  the  college  of 
which  he  was  warden  at  Manchester,  the  seer  has 
surrounded  himself  with  the  ceremonials  of  wor- 
ship, whether  to  propitiate  Pan  or  Osiris,  or  to 
disconcert  Ahriman  or  the  Prince  of  Darkness." 

The  early  Jewish  Scriptures  abound  in  indica- 
tions of  the  same  practice.  When  the  patriarch 
Joseph  put  his  silver  cup  in  the  mouth  of  his 
young  brother  Benjamin's  sack,  in  order  that  he 
might  have  a  pretext  for  recalling  his  brethren 
after  he  had  sent  them  away,  his  steward,  in  ac- 
cusing them  of  theft,  uses  this  language :  "  Is  not 
this  the  cup  in  which  my  lord  drinketh,  and 
whereby  indeed  he  divineth  ?  "  Showing  the  same 
use  of  the  cup  for  purposes  of  divination  as 
that  indicated  on  the  walls  of  the  Assyrian 
Palace. 

The  Urim  and  Thummim,  as  their  names  indi- 
cate, were  doubtless  stones  of  unusual  splendor 
set  in  the  high-priest's  "  breast-plate  of  judg- 
ment," and  they  were  made  use  of  to  "  inquire  of 
the  Lord." 

When  Joshua  was  to  be  set  apart  as  a  leader  of 
the  people,  he  was  brought  to  Eleazar  the  priest, 
who  should  lay  his  hands  on  him  and  "  ask  coun- 


AMONGST  HEBREWS,  GREEKS  AND  ROMANS.  205 

sel  for  him  after  the  judgment  of  Urim  before  the 
Lord."  In  the  last  days  of  Saul's  career  as  King 
of  Israel  he  desired  to  "  inquire  of  the  Lord  "  re- 
garding his  future  fortunes,  but  "  the  Lord  an- 
swered him  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim, 
nor  by  prophets  ;  and  it  is  not  uninteresting  to 
note  that  Saul  in  his  strait  directly  sought  the 
Witch  of  Endor,  from  whom  he  obtained  what 
proved  to  be  true  information  regarding  the  disas- 
ters which  were  to  overwhelm  him. 

In  a  Persian  romance  it  is  noted  that  "  if  a 
mirror  be  covered  with  ink  and  placed  in  front  of 
any  one  it  will  indicate  whatever  he  wishes  to 
know." 

The  Greeks  had  a  variety  of  methods  of  divina- 
tion by  crystal-gazing.  Sometimes  it  was  by  the 
mirror  placed  so  as  to  reflect  light  upon  the  sur- 
face of  a  fountain  of  clear  water,  sometimes  by 
mirrors  alone  ;  sometimes  they  made  use  of  glass 
vessels  filled  with  water  and  surrounded  with 
torches,  sometimes  of  natural  crystals,  and  some- 
times even  of  a  child's  "  nails  covered  with  oil  and 
soot,"  so  as  to  reflect  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

The  Romans  made  special  use  of  crystals  and 
mirrors,  and  children  were  particularly  employed 
for  mirror-reading  when  consulting  regarding  im- 
portant events  ;  thus  in  a  manner  taking  the  place 


206     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

of  the  early  oracles.  From  Jewish  and  Pagan 
practices  as  a  means  of  divination,  clairvoyance 
and  prophecy,  the  art  of  the  crystal  seer  seems  to 
have  passed  to  early  Christian  times  without 
material  change  except  in  ceremonials.  These 
seers  are  mentioned  in  the  counsels  of  the  Church 
as  specularii,  children  often  acting  as  the  seers, 
and  although  in  some  quarters  they  were  looked 
upon  with  suspicion  as  heretics,  and  were  under 
the  ban  of  the  Church,  yet  they  had  an  exten- 
sive following. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  speaking  of  the  peculiar 
power  of  seeing  visions  possessed  by  children, 
says  it  is  not  to  be  ascribed  to  any  virtue  or  in- 
nocence of  theirs,  nor  any  power  of  nature,  but 
that  it  is  the  work  of  the  devil. 

In  Wagner's  beautiful  opera  of  Parsifal,  based 
upon  the  legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  reference  to 
the  same  custom  is  more  than  once  evident.  The 
second  act  opens  with  a  scene  representing  the 
enchanted  castle  of  Klingsor ;  the  magician  him- 
self is  seen  gazing  into  a  bright  metallic  mirror, 
in  which  he  sees  Parsifal  approaching  and  recog- 
nizes and  fears  him  as  the  promised  guiltless  one 
— the  true  king  and  guardian  of  the  Grail — an 
office  to  which  he  himself  had  once  aspired.  In 
fact  the  Grail  itself,  in  its  earliest  mythical  and 


THE  HOLY  GRAIL  AND  PARSIVAL  MYTHS.  20? 

traditional  form,  as  well  as  in  its  later  develop- 
ment as  a  distinctly  Christian  symbol,  was  an  in- 
strument  of  divination  and  prophecy.  The 
Druids  had  their  basin,  sometimes  filled  with 
aromatic  herbs,  sometimes  with  the  blood  of  the 
sacrificed  victim  ;  but  in  either  case  it  was  potent 
for  securing  the  proper  psychic  condition  in 
the  officiating  priest  or  soothsayer;  and  while 
Arabic  and  Indian  myths  present  the  same  idea, 
sometimes  as  a  cup  of  divination,  and  sometimes  as 
a  brilliant  stone,  the  British  Islands  were  the 
main  source  of  the  traditions  which  eventually 
culminated  in  the  legends  of  the  Holy  Grail,  with 
its  full  store  of  beautiful  and  touching  incidents, 
prophecies,  and  forms  of  worship.  In  each  the 
special  guardians  and  knights  of  the  Grail  appear, 
with  Parsifal,  the  simple-minded,  pure  and  pitiful 
knight  as  its  restorer  and  king  when  lost  or  in 
unworthy  hands. 

In  the  German  version  of  the  twelfth  cent- 
ury as  given  by  Wolfram,  in  his  Parzival,  the 
Grail  is  a  beautiful,  sacred  stone,  enshrined  in 
the  magnificent  temple  at  Montsalvat,  guarded 
by  the  consecrated  knights  and  the  sick  and 
erring,  but  repentant,  King  Amfortas.  While  the 
unhappy  king  was  worshipping  with  gaze  intent 
upon  the  Sacred  Emblem,  suddenly  letters  of 


2o8     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

fire    surrounded   it   and    he  read    the  cheering 
prophecy : 

"  In  the  loving  soul  of  a  guiltless  one 
Put  thy  faith — Him  have  I  chosen." 

Kufferath  remarks,  "  The  religious  emblem 
soon  became  a  symbolic  object — it  revealed  to  its 
worshippers  the  knowledge  of  the  future,  the 
mystery  of  the  world,  the  treasures  of  human 
knowledge,  and  imparted  a  poetic  inspiration." 
So  it  comes  to  pass  that  in  the  legend  in  its  latest 
form — the  splendid  work  of  the  Master  of  Bay- 
reuth,  the  Holy  Grail,  as  a  chalice  and  Christian 
emblem,  is  still  endowed  with  the  same  miraculous 
power,  and  is  rescued  from  the  unfortunate 
guardianship  of  Amfortas  by  the  "  loving  soul 
of  a  guiltless  one  " — the  simple,  tried,  and  much- 
enduring  Parsifal,  miraculously  promised  long 
before  by  the  Grail  itself. 

It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  crystal-gazing  in  its 
various  forms  has,  from  the  earliest  times,  been 
practised  with  great  ceremony  for  the  purpose  of 
acquiring  knowledge  concerning  affairs  and  events 
unknown  and  often  not  discoverable  by  ordinary 
methods. 

Stripped  of  its  fictitious  accessories — its  charms, 
incantations,  incense  and  prayers — one  single  im- 
portant fact  remains  common  in  the  most  ancient 


WHA  T  CRYSTAL  GAZING  RE  ALL  Y  IS.      209 

and  the  most  modern  usages,  and  that  fact  is  the 
steady  and  continuous  gazing  at  a  bright  object. 
It  is  identical  with  Braid's  method  of  inducing 
the  hypnotic  trance,  with  Luys'  method,  causing 
his  patients  to  gaze  at  revolving  mirrors,  and  with 
the  method  of  hypnotizers  generally  who  desire 
their  patients  to  direct  their  gaze  toward  some 
specified,  and  preferably  some  bright  or  reflecting 
object. 

In  crystal-gazing,  as  ordinarily  practised,  the 
full  hypnotic  condition  is  not  usually  induced ; 
but  in  many  cases  a  condition  of  reverie  occurs, 
in  which  pictures  or  visions  fill  the  mind  or  ap- 
pear externalized  in  the  crystal  or  mirror.  With 
some  persons  this  condition  so  favorable  to  vis- 
ualizing, is  produced  by  simply  becoming  passive; 
with  others  the  gazing  at  a  bright  or  reflecting 
object  assists  in  securing  that  end,  while  with 
many  none  of  these  means,  nor  yet  the  assistance 
of  the  most  skilful  hypnotizer,  avails  to  secure 
the  message-bearing  action  of  the  subliminal 
self. 

The  experiences  of  Miss  X.,  in  crystal-gazing 
are  devoid  of  the  interest  imparted  by  exciting 
incident,  and  on  that  very  account  are  the  more 
valuable  as  illustrating  our  subject.  She  has 

friends  of  whose  experiments  she  has  carefully 
14 


210     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

observed  the  results,  and  she  has  some  seventy 
cases  or  experiments  of  her  own  of  which  she 
has  kept  carefully  prepared  notes,  always  made 
directly  or  within  an  hour  after  each  experi- 
ment. For  a  crystal  she  recommends  "  a  good- 
sized  magnifying  glass  placed  on  a  dark  back- 
ground." 

She  classifies  her  results  as  follows : — 

(1)  After-images  or  recrudescent  memories  com- 
ing up  from  the  subconscious  strata  to  which  the 
had  fallen. 

(2)  Objectivations,  or  the  visualizing  of  ideas 
or  images  which  already  exist  consciously  or  un- 
consciously in  the  mind. 

(3)  Visions  possibly  telepathic,  or  clairvoyant, 
implying  acquirement   of  knowledge   by  supra- 
normal  means. 

The  following  are  some  of  Miss  X.'s  experi- 
ments : — 

She  had  been  occupying  herself  with  accounts 
and  opened  a  drawer  to  take  out  her  banking 
book  ;  accidentally  her  hand  came  in  contact 
with  the  crystal  she  was  in  the  habit  of  using, 
and  she  welcomes  the  suggestion  of  a  change  of 
occupation.  Figures,  however,  were  still  upper- 
most, and  the  crystal  showed  her  nothing  but  the 
combination  7694.  Dismissing  this  as  probably 


MISS  X>  EXPERIMENTS.  211 

the  number  of  the  cab  she  had  driven  in  that 
morning,  or  a  chance  combination  of  figures  with 
which  she  had  been  occupied,  she  laid  aside  the 
crystal  and  took  up  her  banking  book,  which 
certainly  she  had  not  seen  for  several  months. 
Greatly  to  her  surprise  she  found  that  7694  was 
the  number  of  her  book,  plainly  indicated  on  the 
cover. 

She  declares  that  she  would  have  utterly  failed 
to  recall  the  figures,  arid  could  not  even  have 
guessed  the  number  of  digits  nor  the  value  of  the 
first  figure. 

Again : — Having  carelessly  destroyed  a  letter 
without  preserving  the  address  of  her  correspond- 
ent she  tried  in  vain  to  recall  it.  She  knew  the 
county,  and,  searching  on  a  map,  she  recognized 
the  name  of  the  town,  one  quite  unfamiliar  to 
her,  but  she  had  no  clue  to  the  house  or  street, 
till  at  length  it  occurred  to  her  to  test  the  value 
of  the  crystal  as  a  means  of  recalling  forgotten 
knowledge.  A  short  inspection  showed  her  the 
words,  "  H.  House,"  in  gray  letters  on  a  white 
ground.  Having  nothing  better  to  rely  upon  she 
risked  posting  the  letter  to  the  address  so  curi- 
ously supplied.  A  day  or  two  brought  an  an- 
swer— on  paper  headed  "  H.  House  "  in  gray 
letters  on  a  white  ground. 


212     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

One  more  illustration  from  Miss  X.,  one  of  her 
earliest  experiments,  numbered  11,  in  her  note- 
book. There  came  into  the  crystal  a  vision  per- 
plexing and  wholly  unexpected  :  a  quaint  old 
chair,  an  aged  hand,  a  worn  black  coat-sleeve 
resting  on  the  arm  of  the  chair.  It  was  slowly 
recognized  as  a  recollection  of  a  room  in  a  coun- 
try vicarage  which  she  had  not  been  in  and  had 
seldom  thought  of  since  she  was  a  child  of  ten. 
But  whence  came  the  vision,  and  why  to-day? 
The  clue  was  found.  That  same  day  she  had 
been  reading  Dante,  a  book  which  she  had  first 
learned  to  read  and  enjoy  by  the  help  of  the 
aged  vicar  with  the  "  worn  black  coat-sleeve  " 
resting  on  the  same  quaint,  oak  chair-arm  in  that 
same  corner  of  the  study  in  the  country  vicarage. 

Here  are  two  cases  from  the  same  writer  be- 
longing to  the  third  division  of  her  classification, 
namely,  where  an  explanation  of  the  vision  re- 
quires the  introduction  of  a  telepathic  influence. 
On  Monday,  February  nth,  she  took  up  the 
crystal  with  the  deliberate  wish  and  intention 
of  seeing  a  certain  figure  which  occupied  her 
thoughts  at  the  time  ;  but  instead  of  the  desired 
figure  the  field  was  preoccupied  by  a  plain  little 
nosegay  of  daffodils,  such  as  might  be  formed 
by  two  or  three  fine  flowers  bunched  together. 


A  BUNCH  OF  DAFFODILS.  213 

This  presented  itself  in  several  different  positions 
notwithstanding  her  wish  to  be  rid  of  it,  so  as  to 
have  the  field  clear  for  her  desired  picture.  She 
concluded  that  the  vision  came  in  consequence  of 
her  having  the  day  before  seen  the  first  daffodils 
of  the  season  on  a  friend's  dinner-table.  But  the 
resemblance  to  these  was  not  at  all  complete,  as 
they  were  loosely  arranged  with  ferns  and  ivy, 
whereas  the  crystal  vision  was  a  compact  little 
bunch  without  foliage  of  any  kind.  On  Thursday, 
February  I4th,  she  very  unexpectedly  received  as 
a  "  Valentine  "  a  painting  on  a  blue  satin  ground, 
of  a  bunch  of  daffodils  corresponding  exactly 
with  her  crystal  vision.  She  also  ascertained 
that  on  Monday  the  nth,  the  artist  had  spent 
several  hours  in  making  studies  of  these  flowers, 
arranged  in  different  positions. 

Again  : — On  Saturday,  March  Qth,  she  had 
written  a  rather  impatient  note  to  a  friend,  ac- 
cusing her  of  having,  on  her  return  from  the 
Continent,  spent  several  days  in  London  without 
visiting  her.  On  Sunday  evening  following,  she 
found  her  friend  before  her  in  the  crystal,  but 
could  not  understand  why  she  held  up  in  a  dep- 
recating manner  what  seemed  to  be  a  music 
portfolio.  However,  she  made  a  note  of  the 
vision  and  sketched  the  portfolio.  On  Monday 


214     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

she  received  an  answer  to  her  impatient  letter, 
pleading  guilty  to  the  charge  of  neglect,  but 
urging  as  an  excuse  that  she  was  attending  the 
Royal  Academy  of  Music  and  was  engaged  there 
the  greater  part  of  every  day.  Such  an  excuse 
was  to  the  last  degree  unexpected,  as  her  friend 
was  a  married  woman  and  had  never  given  serious 
attention  to  music.  It  was  true,  however — and 
she  afterwards  learned  that  she  carried  a  portfolio 
which  was  the  counterpart  of  the  one  she  had 
sketched  from  her  crystal  vision. 

The  following  incident  in  which  an  East  India 
army  officer,  Col.  Wickham,  his  wife,  Princess  di 
Cristoforo,  and  Ruth,  their  educated  native  serv- 
ant, were  the  chief  actors,  illustrates  another 
phase  of  crystal-gazing.  All  three  of  the  actors 
participating  in  the  incident  were  well  known 
personally  to  Mr.  Myers,  who  reports  the  case. 
Briefly  stated  :  In  1885,  Colonel,  then  Major, 
Wickham,  was  stationed  with  the  Royal  Artillery 
at  Colabra,  about  two  miles  from  Bombay.  Mrs. 
Wickham  was  accustomed  to  experiment  with 
some  of  the  Indian  servants  and  especially  Ruth, 
by  having  her  look  in  a  glass  of  magnetized 
water.  One  morning  Lord  Reay  was  expected  to 
arrive  at  Bombay,  and  there  was  to  be  a  grand  full- 
dress  parade  of  the  English  troops.  While  sitting 


FO  UND  THE  MAJOR'S  PO  UCH-BEL  T.         215 

at  the  breakfast  table  the  major  directed  his 
orderly  to  see  that  his  uniform  was  in  readiness. 
The  man  obeyed,  but  soon  returned  with  a  de- 
jected air,  and  stammered  out — "  Sahib,  me  no  can 
find  the  dress  pouch-belt."  A  general  hunt  for 
the  lost  article  was  instituted,  but  to  no  purpose ; 
the  pouch-belt  was  absolutely  missing.  The  en- 
raged major  stormed  and  accused  the  servants  of 
stealing  it,  which  only  produced  a  tumult  and  a 
storm  of  denials  from  them  all.  "  Now,"  cried  the 
major,  "  is  an  excellent  opportunity  to  test  the  see- 
ing powers  of  Ruth.  Bring  her  in  at  once  and 
let  her  try  if  she  can  find  my  pouch-belt."  Accord- 
ingly a  tumbler  was  filled  with  water,  and  Mrs. 
W.  placing  it  on  her  left  hand  made  passes  over 
it  with  her  right.  Water  so  treated  could  always 
be  detected  with  absolute  certainty  by  Ruth,  sim- 
ply by  tasting  it — a  fact  not  uncommonly  ob- 
served, and  which  was  an  additional  proof  that 
she  possessed  unusual  perceptive  power.  Into 
this  glass  of  water  Ruth  gazed  intently,  but  she 
could  discern  nothing.  She  was  commanded  to 
find  the  thief,  but  no  thief  could  be  seen.  Chang- 
ing her  tactics,  Mrs.  W.  then  commanded  Ruth 
to  see  where  the  major  was  the  last  time  he  wore 
the  belt.  At  once  she  described  the  scene  of  a 
grand  parade  which  took  place  months  before, 


2l6     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

and  which  they  all  recognized.  "  Do  not  take 
your  eyes  off  from  the  major  for  a  moment,"  said 
Mrs.  W.,  and  Ruth  continued  to  gaze  intently  at 
the  pageant  in  the  glass.  At  length  the  parade 
ended  and  Ruth  said,  "  Sahib  has  gone  into  a  big 
house  by  the  water ;  all  his  regimentals  are  put  in 
the  tin  case,  but  the  pouch-belt  is  left  out ;  it  is 
hanging  on  a  peg  in  the  dressing-room  of  the  big 
house  by  the  water."  "  The  yacht  club  !  "  cried 
the  major.  "  Patilla,  send  some  one  at  once  to 
see  if  the  belt  has  been  left  there.''  The  search 
was  rewarded  by  finding  the  belt  as  described,  and 
the  servants  returned  bringing  it  with  a  grand 
tumult  of  triumph.  On  many  other  occasions 
was  Ruth's  aid  successfully  invoked  to  find  lost 
articles. 

Instead  of  a  glass  of  water,  some  springs  and 
wells  when  gazed  into  have  the  same  effect  of 
producing  visions,  especially  when  a  mirror  is  so 
held  at  the  same  time  as  to  reflect  light  upon  the 
surface  of  the  water.  Springs  of  this  sort  have 
been  reported  at  various  periods  in  the  past,  some 
being  frequented  for  health  and  some  for  purposes 
of  divination.  The  latest  instance  of  a  well  pos- 
sessing the  quality  or  power  of  producing  visions 
is  that  upon  the  farm  of  Col.  J.  J.  Deyer  at  Hand- 
soms,  Va.  It  was  in  May,  1892,  that  the  curious 


THE  VIRGINIA  SPRING.  217 

influence  pertaining  to  this  well  was  first"  ob- 
served and  soon  it  was  thronged  with  visitors. 
Faces,  both  familiar  and  strange,  of  people  living 
and  of  those  long  dead,  and  hundreds  of  other 
objects,  animate  and  inanimate,  were  distinctly 
seen  upon  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  water 
of  the  well  is  unusually  clear  and  the  bottom  of 
white  sand  is  clearly  visible.  A  mirror  is  held  over 
the  top  of  the  well  with  face  toward  the  water  so 
as  to  throw  reflected  light  upon  the  surface.  At 
first  Miss  Deyer,  the  colonel's  daughter,  always 
held  the  mirror,  but  afterwards  it  was  found  that 
any  one  who  could  hold  the  mirror  steadily  per- 
formed the  duty  equally  well.  If  the  mirror  was 
held  unsteadily  the  pictures  were  indistinct  or 
failed  to  appear  at  all ;  and  the  brighter  the  day 
the  better  the  pictures.  Many  level  headed  men 
and  some  well  qualified  to  observe  curious  psy- 
chical phenomena  visited  the  well,  and  nearly  all 
were  convinced  that,  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, remarkable  pictures  appeared  ;  naturally, 
however,  different  causes  were  assigned  for  these 
appearances.  Prof.  Dolbear  and  Mr.  T.  E.  Allen, 
from  the  American  Psychical  Society,  saw  nothing 
remarkable  during  their  visit  to  the  well,  and 
referred  the  pictures  seen  by  so  many  people  to 
the  reflection  of  objects  about  the  well,  aided  by 


218     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

the  mental  excitement  and  expectation  of  so 
many  spectators.  This  explanation,  however, 
seems  hardly  sufficient  to  account  for  the  hallu- 
cinations of  so  large  a  number  of  persons  kept  up 
for  so  long  a  time.  At  all  events,  an  interesting 
psychic  element  of  some  sort  was  active. 

Col.  Deyer  is  an  intelligent  man,  commanding 
the  respect  of  his  neighbors,  and  has  held  an 
appointment  of  considerable  importance  under 
the  government  at  Washington.  In  a  letter  dated 
December  2d,  1893,  he  says: — "Thousands  of 
people  from  various  sections  of  the  Union  have 
visited  the  place — of  course  some  laugh  at  it.  I 
do  myself  sometimes,  as  I  am  not  superstitious 
and  take  little  stock  in  spooks  or  anything  con- 
nected therewith  ;  but  the  well  is  here,  and  still 
shows  up  many  wondrous  things,  but  not  so  plen- 
tiful nor  so  plainly  as  it  did  a  year  ago." 

We  have  presented  in  this  well  the  most  favor- 
able conditions  possible  for  crystal-gazing — a 
body  of  unusually  clear  sparkling  water,  lying 
upon  a  white  sand  bottom,  and  the  rays  of  the 
sun  reflected  into  it  by  means  of  a  mirror ; — no 
better  "  cup  of  divination  "  could  be  desired,  nor 
any  better  circumstances  for  securing  the  psy- 
chical conditions  favorable  for  the  action  of  the 
subliminal  self. 


SENSOR  Y  A  UTOMA  TISMS.  2 1 9 

The  various  methods  of  practising  crystal-gazing 
here  noticed  may  be  looked  upon  simply  as  so 
many  different  forms  of  sensory  automatism,  refer- 
able in  these  instances  to  the  sense  of  sight ;  and 
whether  produced  by  using  the  "  cup  of  divina 
tion,"  the  ink  or  treacle  in  the  palm  of  the  hand, 
the  jewels  of  the  Jewish  high-priest,  the  ordinary 
crystal  or  stone  of  the  early  Christian  centuries, 
and  even  down  to  the  experiments  of  Miss  X., 
and  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research,  or  last  of 
all,  the  wells  or  springs  of  clear  water,  either  the 
early  ones  of  Greece  and  Rome,  or  the  latest 
one  on  the  farm  of  Col.  Deyer,  they  are  all  simply 
methods  of  securing  such  a  condition  by  gazing 
fixedly  at  a  bright  object,  as  best  to  facilitate 
communication  between  the  ordinary  or  prim- 
ary self,  and  the  secondary  or  subliminal  self. 
It  is  the  first,  and  perhaps  the  most  impor- 
tant, in  a  series  of  sensory  automatisms,  or  those 
having  reference  to  the  senses,  in  distinction  from 
motor  automatisms,  or  those  produced  by  various 
automatic  actions  of  the  body. 

These  sensory  automatisms  are  usually  looked 
upon  as  hallucinations — but  so  far  as  the  term 
hallucination  conveys  the  idea  of  deception  or 
falsity  it  is  inappropriate,  since  the  messages 
brought  in  this  manner  are  just  as  real — just  as 


220     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

veridical  or  truth-telling  as  automatic  writing  or 
speaking. 

Hearing  is  another  form  of  sensory  automatism, 
which,  while  less  common  than  that  of  seeing,  has 
also  been  noticed  in  all  ages. 

The  child  Samuel,  ministering  to  the  High 
Priest  Eli,  three  times  in  one  night,  heard  himself 
called  by  name,  and  three  times  came  to  Eli  say- 
ing, "Here  am  I;"  adding  at  last,  "for  surely 
thou  didst  call  me."  The  wise  high-priest  rec- 
ognized the  rare  psychic  qualities  of  the  child 
and  brought  him  up  for  the  priesthood  in  place  of 
his  own  wayward  sons  ;  and  he  became  the  great 
seer  of  Israel. 

Socrates  was  accustomed  to  hear  a  voice  which 
always  admonished  him  when  the  course  he  was 
pursuing  or  contemplating  was  wrong  or  harmful ; 
but  it  was  silent  when  the  contemplated  course 
was  right.  This  was  the  famous  "  Daemon  of  Soc- 
rates," and  was  described  and  discussed  by  Xen- 
ophon  and  Plato  as  well  as  other  Greek  writers 
and  many  modern  ones.  Socrates  himself  called 
it  the  "  Divine  Sign."  And  on  that  account  he 
was  accused  of  introducing  new  gods,  and  thus 
offering  indignity  to  the  accredited  gods  of  Greece. 
On  this,  as  one  of  the  leading  charges,  Socrates 
was  tried  and  condemned  to  death  ;  but  in  all  the 


JOAN  OF  ARCS  VOICES.  221 

proceedings  connected  with  his  trial  and  condem- 
nation he  persisted  in  his  course  which  he  knew 
would  end  in  his  death,  rather  than  be  false  to  his 
convictions  of  duty  and  right ;  and  this  he  did 
because  the  voice — the  "  Divine  Sign  " — which 
always  before  had  restrained  him  in  any  wrong 
course,  was  not  heard  restraining  him  in  his  present 
course. 

Only  once  was  it  heard,  and  that  was  to  restrain 
him  from  preparing  any  set  argument  in  his  de- 
fence before  his  judges.  So  he  accepted  his  sen- 
tence and  drank  the  hemlock,  surrounded  by  his 
friends,  to  whom  he  calmly  explained  that  death 
could  not  be  an  evil  thing,  not  only  from  the  ar- 
guments which  he  had  adduced,  but  also  because 
the  Divine  Sign,  which  never  failed  to  admonish 
him  when  pursuing  any  harmful  course,  had  not 
admonished  nor  restrained  him  in  this  course 
which  had  led  directly  to  his  death. 

Joan  of  Arc  heard  voices,  which  in  childhood 
only  guided  her  in  her  ordinary  duties,  but  which 
in  her  early  womanhood  made  her  one  of  the 
most  conspicuous  figures  in  the  history  of  her 
time.  They  placed  her,  a  young  and  unknown 
peasant  girl,  as  a  commander  at  the  head  of  the 
defeated,  disorganized,  and  discouraged  armies  of 
France,  aroused  them  to  enthusiasm,  made  them 


222      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

victorious,  freed  her  country  from  the  power  of 
England,  and  placed  the  rightful  prince  upon  the 
throne.  She  also  heard  and  obeyed  her  guiding 
voices,  even  unto  martyrdom. 

Numerous  instances  might  be  cited  occurring  in 
ancient  and  also  in  modern  times  where  the  sub- 
liminal self  has  sent  its  message  of  instruction, 
guidance,  warning,  or  restraint  to  the  primary  self 
by  means  of  impressions  made  upon  the  organ  of 
hearing.  Socrates,  Joan  of  Arc,  Swedenborg,  and 
many  others  considered  these  instructions  infal- 
lible, supernatural,  or  divine ;  but  in  other  cases 
the  messages  so  given  have  been  trivial,  perhaps 
even  false,  thus  removing  the  element  of  infalli- 
bility and  absolute  truthfulness  from  messages  of 
this  sort,  and  at  the  same  time  casting  a  doubt 
upon  their  supernatural  character  in  any  case.  It 
seems  wisest,  therefore,  at  least  to  examine  these 
and  all  cases  of  automatically  received  messages, 
whether  by  writing,  trance-speaking,  dreams, 
visions,  or  the  hearing  of  voices,  with  a  definite 
conception  of  a  real  and  natural  cause  and  origin 
for  these  messages  in  a  subliminal  self,  forming  a 
definite  part  of  each  individual :  bearing  in  mind 
also  that  this  subliminal  self  possesses  powers  and 
characteristics  varying  in  each  individual  case,  in 
many  cases  greatly  transcending  the  powers  and 


MUST  BE  JUDGED  BY  INTRINSIC  MERIT.   223 

capabilities  of  the  normal  or  primary  self.  But 
infallibility,  though  sometimes  claimed,  is  by  no 
means  to  be  expected  from  this  source,  and  the 
messages  coming  from  each  subliminal  self  must 
be  judged  and  valued  according  to  their  own  in- 
trinsic character  and  merit,  just  as  a  message 
coming  to  us  from  any  primary  self,  whether  known 
or  unknown  to  us,  must  be  judged  and  valued 
according  to  its  source,  character,  and  merit. 


CHAPTER  X. 

PHANTASMS. 

PERHAPS  no  department  of  Psychical  Research 
is  looked  upon  from  such  divers  and  even  quite 
opposite  standpoints  as  that  which  relates  to 
Apparitions  or  Phantasms.  Many  intelligent 
people,  in  a  general  way,  accept  them  as  realities 
but  assign  for  them  a  supernatural  origin ;  while 
others  discredit  them  altogether  because  they 
have  apparently  no  basis  except  an  assumed 
supernatural  one. 

It  has  been  said  that  primitive,  undeveloped, 
and  ignorant  people  almost  universally  believe 
in  ghosts  ;  while  with  the  advance  of  civilization, 
culture,  and  general  intelligence,  the  frequency 
of  alleged  apparitions  and  the  belief  in  ghosts 
diminishes  or  altogether  disappears.  If  this 
statement  were  to  stand  unqualified,  by  so  much 
would  the  reality  and  respectability  of  phantasms 
be  discredited.  Possibly,  however,  it  may  be 

found  that  the  last  word  has  not  yet  been  said, 
224 


PER  CEPTION  DEFINED.  225 

and  that  there  may  exist  a  scientific  aspect  for 
even  so  unstable  and  diaphanous  a  subject  as 
ghosts. 

Instead  of  going  over  the  literature  of  the  sub- 
ject from  the  earliest  times — a  literature,  by  the 
way,  which  in  the  hands  of  Tylor,  Maury,  Scott, 
Ralston,  Mrs.  Crowe  and  others  certainly  does 
not  lack  interest — it  will  better  suit  our  present 
purpose  to  examine  some  facts  relative  to  per- 
ception in  general  and  vision  in  particular,  and 
give  some  examples  illustrating  different  phases 
of  the  subject. 

Perception  may  be  defined  as  the  cognizance 
which  the  mind  takes  of  impressions  presented  to 
it  through  the  organs  of  sense,  and  possibly  also 
by  other  means. 

One  class  of  perceptions  is  universally  recog- 
nized and  is  in  a  measure  understood,  namely, 
perceptions  arising  from  impressions  made  by 
recognized  external  objects  or  forces  upon  the 
organs  of  sense,  sight,  hearing,  smell,  taste,  and 
also  the  general  sense  of  touch.  These  percep 
tions  in  particular  are  designated  as  real  or  true, 
because  they  correspond  to  recognized  external 
realities. 

But  impressions  are  also  made  upon  the  organs 
of  special  sense  by  influences  which  are  not  rec- 


226     TELEPATHY  AMD  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

ognized  as  having  any  objective  reality,  but 
which  nevertheless  affect  the  senses  in  a  manner 
often  identical  with  that  in  which  they  are  affected 
by  recognized  external  objects,  and  they  cause 
the  same  perceptions  to  arise  in  the  mind. 
Hence  another  broad  class  of  perceptions  includes 
those  which  are  taken  cognizance  of  by  the  mind 
from  impressions  made  upon  the  organs  of  sense 
in  other  ways  and  by  other  means  than  by  exter- 
nal objects,  and  often  where  there  is  no  evidence 
that  any  external  object  exists  corresponding  to 
the  impression  so  made.  Perceptions  arising  in 
these  various  ways  are  called  hallucinations. 

On  close  examination,  however,  it  is  found 
that  the  sharp  line  of  separation  between  what 
has  and  what  has  not  an  objective  reality  is  not 
easily  drawn,  any  more  than  in  biology  the  sharp 
line  between  animal  and  vegetable  life  can  be 
easily  drawn,  or  at  the  lower  end  of  the  scale 
between  the  living  and  the  not  living. 

So  the  origin  of  those  perceptions  which  are 
classed  as  hallucinations  has  always  been  a  subject 
of  controversy,  even  among  philosophers  of  the 
greatest  merit  and  eminence. 

Without  following  out  the  discussions  which 
have  arisen  on  this  point — discussions  which  are 
often  confusing  and  generally  inconclusive,  a 


SOURCES  OF  HALLUCINA  TIONS.  227 

fairly  distinct  view  of  the  subject  may  be  ob- 
tained by  considering  the  origin  of  these  per- 
ceptions under  three  heads — namely  : — 

(i)  Perceptions  which  are  reckoned  as  halluci- 
nations may  be  originated  centrally  ;  that  is,  they 
may  arise  wholly  within  the  mind  itself  without 
any  direct  external  stimulus.  For  instance  the 
characters  drawn  by  the  novelist  may  become  so 
real  to  him,  and  even  to  some  of  his  readers,  that 
they  become  externalized — actual  objects  of 
visual  perception  and  are  seen  to  act  and  even 
heard  to  speak.  The  instance  is  repeatedly 
quoted  of  the  painter  who,  after  carefully  study- 
ing a  sitter's  appearance,  could  voluntarily  project 
it  visibly  into  space  and  paint  the  portrait,  not 
from  the  original,  but  from  the  phantasm  so  pro- 
duced ;  and  of  another  who  could  externalize 
and  project  other  mental  pictures  in  the  same 
manner,  pictures  which  so  interested  him  and 
were  so  subject  to  the  ordinary  laws  of  vision  that 
he  would  request  any  one  who  took  a  position 
in  front  of  them,  to  move  away  so  as  not  to 
obstruct  his  view. 

It  will  be  noticed  in  these  cases  that  although 
the  perception  has  its  origin  centrally,  in  the  mind 
itself,  and  is  even  voluntarily  produced,  still,  it 
is  seen  as  an  impression  made  upon  the  visual 


228     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

organ  in  exactly  the  same  manner  as  a  picture 
thrown  upon  the  retina  by  a  real  external  object ; 
it  disappears  when  the  eyes  are  closed  or  an 
opaque  object  intervenes,  and  follows  the  laws  of 
optics  in  general ;  hence,  strictly  speaking,  these 
perceptions  are  also  real. 

(2)  Perceptions  may  have  their  origin  peripher- 
ally— that  is,  the  point  of  excitation  which  causes 
the  act  of  perception  in  the  mind  may  exist  in 
the  external  sense  organs  themselves,  even  when 
no  external  object  corresponding  to  the  per- 
ception exists  at  the  time,  or  it  is  not  in  a  position 
on  account  of  distance  or  intervening  objects  to 
affect  the  senses. 

In  examining  the  cases  which  may  be  placed 
under  this  head  they  resolve  themselves  into  two 
classes :  those  which  occur  in  connection  with 
some  disease  or  defect  in  the  sense  organ  con- 
cerned, and  those  which  are  recrudescences  or 
after-visions,  arising  from  over-excitation  of  those 
organs  ;  for  instance,  after  looking  through  a 
window  in  a  very  bright  light — even  a  consider- 
able length  of  time  afterwards — on  shutting  the 
eyes  or  looking  into  a  dark  room,  an  image  of  the 
window  is  seen  with  all  its  divisions  and  peculiar- 
ities of  construction  distinctly  presented.  To  the 
country  lad  returning  home  at  night  from  his 


TELE  PA  THIC  ORIGIN  OF  PER  CEP  TIONS.     229 

first  visit  to  the  circus  the  whole  scene  is  again 
presented ;  and  ring,  horses,  equestrians,  acrobats 
and  clowns  are  all  seen  and  externalized  with  the 
utmost  distinctness ;  even  the  crack  of  the  ring- 
master's whip  is  heard  and  the  jokes  and  antics 
of  the  clowns  repeated. 

(3)  Perceptions  may  have  their  origin  tele 
pathically — that  is,  scenes  and  incidents  transpir- 
ing at  a  distance  far  too  great  to  affect  the  bodily 
organs  of  sense  in  any  direct  or  ordinary  way  do, 
nevertheless,  in  some  way,  cause  perceptions  to 
arise  in  the  mind  corresponding  to  those  same 
scenes  and  incidents. 

This  is  comparatively  a  new  proposition  in 
psychology  and  has  for  its  basis  studies  and  ex- 
periments which  have  only  been  systematically 
made  within  the  past  fourteen  years.  These 
studies  and  experiments  relate  to  telepathy,  au- 
tomatism, and  the  action  of  the  subliminal  self. 
They  have  been  undertaken  and  carried  on  by 
various  societies  interested  in  experimental  psy- 
chology, but  chiefly  by  the  English  Society  for 
Psychical  Research,  some  of  the  results  of  whose 
labors  have  been  briefly  sketched  in  the  preced- 
ing chapters. 

In  addition  to  the  reports  of  these  societies  an 
important  contribution  to  the  subject  of  appari- 


230     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

tions  was  published  by  the  then  secretaries  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research,  the  late  Mr. 
Edmund  Gurney,  Mr.  Frederick  W.  H.  Myers, 
and  Mr.  Frank  Podmore. 

It  appeared  under  the  title,  Phantasms  of  the 
Living,  and  contained  more  than  seven  hundred 
instances  relating  to  various  forms  of  hallucina- 
tions and  phantasms — carefully  studied  and  au- 
thenticated cases  which  were  selected  from  several 
thousand  presented  for  examination.  It  is  to 
these  sources  chiefly  that  I  shall  refer  for  cases 
illustrating  the  subject  under  consideration. 

It  seems  hardly  necessary  to  recapitulate  here 
the  experiments  on  which  the  doctrine  of  telepathy 
or  thought-transference  is  established — experi- 
ments which  have  been  carefully  made  by  so 
many  well  qualified  persons,  and  which  have 
proved  convincing  to  nearly  every  one,  whether 
scientific  or  unscientific,  who  has  patiently  fol- 
lowed them,  though  of  course  not  convincing  to 
those  who  choose  to  remain  ignorant  of  the  facts. 

The  same  is  true  regarding  the  subject  of  au- 
tomatism and  the  existence  and  action  of  the 
subliminal  self.  It  remains  to  show  the  interest- 
ing relations  which  these  subjects  bear  to  hallu- 
cinations in  general,  and  especially  to  phantasms 
and  apparitions. 


INFLUENCED  AT  A  DISTANCE.  231 

It  is  well  known  that  hallucinations  can  be  vol- 
untarily or  purposely  produced  by  one  person  in 
the  mind  of  another,  and  in  various  ways,  though 
few  perhaps  consider  to  what  an  extent  this  is 
possible.  In  many  of  the  most  astonishing  feats 
of  the  conjurer,  and  especially  of  the  Indian  fakir, 
suggestion  and  the  imagination  are  brought  into 
service  to  aid  in  producing  the  illusions. 

Regarding  the  hallucinations  which  may  be 
produced  in  the  mind  of  the  hypnotized  subject 
by  the  hypnotizer  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

The  following  case  is  in  point  and  illustrates 
telepathic  influence  excited  at  a  distance  as  well. 
It  is  from  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  and  the 
agent,  Mr.  E.  M.  Glissold,  of  3  Oxford  Square,  W., 
writes  substantially  as  follows :  — 

"  In  the  year  1878  there  was  a  carpenter  named 
Gannaway  employed  by  me  to  mend  a  gate  in 
my  garden  ;  when  a  friend  of  mine  (Moens)  called 
upon  me  and  the  conversation  turned  upon  mes- 
merism. He  asked  me  if  I  knew  anything  about 
it  myself.  On  my  replying  in  the  affirmative  he 
said,  '  Can  you  mesmerize  any  one  at  a  distance  ? ' 
I  said  that  I  had  never  tried  to  do  so,  but  that 
there  was  a  man  in  the  garden  whom  I  could 
easily  mesmerize,  and  that  I  would  try  the  experi- 
ment with  this  man  if  he  (Moens)  would  tell  me 


232     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

what  to  do.  He  then  said,  '  Form  an  impression 
of  the  man  whom  you  wish  to  mesmerize,  in  your 
own  mind,  and  then  wish  him  strongly  to  come 
to  you/ 

"  I  very  much  doubted  the  success  of  the  ex- 
periment, but  I  followed  the  directions  of  my 
friend,  and  I  was  extremely  astonished  to  hear 
the  steps  of  the  man  whom  I  wished  to  appear, 
running  after  me  ;  he  came  up  to  me  directly  and 
asked  me  what  I  wanted  with  him.  I  will  add 
that  my  friend  and  I  had  been  walking  in  the 
garden  and  had  seen  and  spoken  with  the  car- 
penter, but  when  I  wished  him  to  come  to  me  I 
was  quite  out  of  his  sight  behind  the  garden  wall, 
one  hundred  yards  distant,  and  had  neither  by 
conversation  nor  otherwise  led  him  to  believe 
that  I  intended  to  mesmerize  him. 

"  On  another  occasion,  when  the  Hon.  Auberon 
Herbert  was  present,  the  following  scene  occurred. 
Gannaway  was  mesmerized  and  stood  in  one 
corner  of  the  dining-room.  Herbert  sat  at  the 
table  and  wrote  the  following  programme,  each 
scene  of  which  Mr.  Glissold,  the  magnetizer,  was 
to  silently  call  up  in  his  own  mind. 

"  (i)  I  see  a  house  in  flames. 

"  (2)  I  see  a  woman  looking  out  of  a  window. 

"  (3)  She  has  a  child  in  her  arms. 


SCENES  TELEPATHICALLY  TRANSFERRED.   233 

"  (4)  She  throws  it  out  of  the  window. 

"(5)  Is  it  hurt— ? 

"  Gannaway  became  much  excited,  describing 
each  scene  as  it  passed  through  the  mind  of  his 
hypnotizer.  Several  well  known  persons  add  their 
testimony  to  the  above  statement." 

A  single  case  of  mental  action  so  strange  and 
unusual,  no  matter  how  well  authenticated,  might 
not  impress  a  cautious  truth-seeker,  but  when  for- 
tified by  well  studied  cases  in  the  experience  of 
such  men  as  Esdaile,  as  shown  in  his  remarkable 
experiments  upon  the  natives  of  India,  and 
especially  his  well  known  one  of  hypnotizing  the 
blind  man  at  a  distance,  also  those  of  Prof.  Janet, 
Prof.  Richet,  Dr.  Gibert,  and  Dr.  Hericourt,  in 
France  under  the  observation  of  Mr.  Myers  and 
other  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  and  hundreds  of  other  cases  of  hyp- 
notizing at  a  distance,  or  silently  influencing  the 
subject  without  hypnotization,  the  matter  then 
challenges  attention  and  belief ; — and  it  is  from 
abundant  observation  of  such  cases,  from  the 
simplest  examples  of  thought-transference  to 
the  most  wonderful  exhibition  of  perceptive  power 
at  great  distances,  that  the  doctrine  of  Telepathy 
is  founded. 

In  the  following  case  the  agent  was  able  to 


234     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

project  his  own  semblance  or  phantasm  a  distance 
of  several  miles  ;  and  it  was  then  distinctly  per- 
ceived by  a  young  lady,  a  friend  of  the  agent. 
The  circumstances  were  these  : — Two  young  men, 
Mr.  A.  H.  W.  Cleave  and  Mr.  H.  P.  Sparks,  aged 
respectively  eighteen  and  nineteen  years,  were 
fellow-students  of  engineering  at  the  Navy  Yard, 
Portsmouth,  England.  While  there,  they  engaged 
in  some  mesmeric  experiments,  and  after  a  time 
Sparks  was  able  to  put  Cleave  thoroughly  into  the 
hypnotic  condition.  The  following  is  Mr.  Sparks' 
account  of  what  occurred. 

"  For  the  last  year  or  fifteen  months  I  have  been 
in  the  habit  of  mesmerizing  a  fellow-student  of 
mine.  The  way  I  did  it  was  by  simply  looking 
into  his  eyes  as  he  lay  in  an  easy  position  on  a 
bed.  This  produced  sleep.  After  a  few  times  I 
found  that  this  sleep  was  deepened  by  making 
long  passes  after  the  patient  was  off.  Then  comes 
the  remarkable  part  of  this  sort  of  mesmerism." 
(Mr.  Sparks  then  describes  his  subject's  ability  to 
see  in  his  trance  places  in  which  he  was  interested 
if  he  resolved  to  see  them  before  he  was  hyp- 
notized.) "  However,  it  has  been  during  the  last 
week  or  so  I  have  been  surprised  and  startled  by 
an  extraordinary  affair.  Last  Friday  evening  (Jan. 
1 5th,  1886),  he  (Cleave)  expressed  his  wish  to 


PHANTASM  TELEPATHIC  ALLY  TRANSFERRD.  235 

see  a  young  lady  living  in  Wandsworth,  and  he 
also  said  he  would  try  to  make  himself  seen  by 
her.  I  accordingly  mesmerized  him  and  continued 
the  long  passes  for  about  twenty  minutes,  concen- 
trating my  will  on  his  idea.  When  he  came  round 
(after  one  hour  and  twenty  minutes'  trance)  he  said 
he  had  seen  her  in  the  dining-room  ;  and  that  after 
a  time  she  grew  restless  ;  then  suddenly  she  looked 
straight  at  him,  and  then  covered  her  eyes  with 
her  hands ;  just  then  he  came  round.  Last 
Monday  evening  (Jan.  i8th)  we  did  the  same 
thing,  and  this  time  he  said  he  thought  he  had 
frightened  her,  as  after  she  had  looked  at  him  a  few 
minutes  she  fell  back  in  her  chair  in  a  sort  of  faint. 
Her  little  brother  was  in  the  room  at  the  time. 
Of  course  after  this  he  expected  a  letter  if  the 
vision  was  real;  and  on  Wednesday  morning  he 
received  a  letter  from  the  young  lady,  asking 
whether  anything  had  happened  to  him,  as  on 
Friday  evening  she  was  startled  by  seeing  him 
standing  at  the  door  of  the  room.  After  a  minute 
he  disappeared  and  she  thought  it  might  have 
been  fancy  ;  but  on  Monday  evening  she  was  still 
more  startled  by  seeing  him  again,  and  this  time 
much  clearer,  and  it  so  frightened  her  that  she 
nearly  fainted." 

Mr.  Cleave  also  writes  a   very   interesting  ac- 


236     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

count  of  his  experience  in  the  matter,  and  two 
fellow-students  who  were  in  the  room  during  the 
experiments  also  write  corroborating  the  state- 
ments made. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  in  which 
the  young  lady,  Miss  A.,  describes  her  side  of  the 
affair.  It  is  addressed,  "  Mr.  A.  H.  W.  Cleave, 
H.  M.  S.  Marlborough,  Portsmouth,"  and  is  post- 
marked Wandsworth,  Jan.  iQth,  1886. 

"  WANDSWORTH, 

"  Tuesday  morning. 

"  DEAR  ARTHUR, — Has  anything  happened  to 
you  ?  Please  write  and  let  me  know  at  once,  for 
I  have  been  so  frightened. 

"  Last  Tuesday  evening  I  was  sitting  in  the 
dining-room  reading,  when  I  happened  to  look 
up,  and  could  have  declared  I  saw  you  standing 
at  the  door  looking  at  me.  I  put  my  handker- 
chief to  my  eyes,  and  when  I  looked  again  you 
were  gone. 

"  I  thought  it  must  have  been  only  my  fancy,  but 
last  night  (Monday)  while  I  was  at  supper  I  saw 
you  again  just  as  before,  and  was  so  frightened 
that  I  nearly  fainted.  Luckily  only  my  brother 
was  there  or  it  would  have  attracted  attention. 
Now  do  write  at  once  and  tell  me  how  you  are. 
I  really  cannot  write  any  more  now," 


TRANSFERRED  IN  ORDINARY  SLEEP.       237 

Probably  the  young  lady  is  in  error  regarding 
the  date  of  the  first  experiment,  which  may  be 
accounted  for  by  her  excited  condition — the 
shock  of  the  last  experiment  having  proved 
decidedly  serious,  as  was  afterwards  discovered, 
and  she  begged  that  the  experiment  might  never 
be  repeated. 

Both  young  men  mention  Friday  as  the  day  of 
their  first  decided  success,  but  they  were  experi- 
menting on  previous  days,  including  Tuesday, 
when  the  young  lady  writes  she  first  saw  Cleave's 
phantasm.  Concerning  the  date  of  the  last  ex- 
periment there  is  no  question. 

Effects  similar  to  those  just  related  may  also 
occur  where  the  agent  is  in  ordinary  sleep,  or  at 
least  when  no  hypnotizing  process  is  made  use  of. 
The  agent  in  this  case  first  formulates  the  wish  or 
strong  resolution  to  be  present  and  be  seen  at 
a  certain  place  or  by  a  certain  person,  and  then 
goes  to  sleep,  and  generally  remains  uncon- 
scious of  the  result  until  learned  from  the  per- 
cipient. 

In  the  following  case  the  name  of  the  agent  is 
withheld  from  publication,  though  known  to  Mr. 
Myers  who  reports  the  case  ;  the  percipient  is  the 
Rev.  W.  Stainton-Moses.  The  agent  goes  on  to 
state  : — 


238      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  One  evening  early  last  year  (1878),  I  resolved 
to  try  to  appear  to  Z.  (Mr.  Moses)  at  some  miles 
distant.  I  did  not  inform  him  beforehand  of  my 
intended  experiment,  but  retired  to  rest  shortly 
before  midnight  with  thoughts  intently  fixed  on 
Z.,  with  whose  room  and  surroundings,  however, 
I  was  quite  unacquainted.  I  soon  fell  asleep  and 
woke  up  the  next  morning  unconscious  of  any- 
thing having  taken  place.  On  seeing  Z.  a  few 
days  afterwards  I  inquired,  '  Did  anything  happen 
at  your  rooms  on  Saturday  night  ? '  '  Yes,'  he 
replied,  '  a  great  deal  happened.  I  had  been  sit- 
ting over  the  fire  with  M.,  smoking  and  chatting. 
About  12  :  30  he  rose  to  leave,  and  I  let  him  out 
myself.  I  returned  to  the  fire  to  finish  my  pipe 
when  I  saw  you  sitting  in  the  chair  just  vacated 
by  him.  I  looked  intently  at  you,  and  then  took 
up  a  newspaper  to  assure  myself  I  was  not  dream- 
ing, but  on  laying  it  down  I  saw  you  still  there. 
While  I  gazed  without  speaking,  you  faded  away. 
Though  I  imagined  you  must  be  fast  asleep  in 
bed  at  that  hour,  yet  you  appeared  dressed 
in  your  ordinary  garments,  such  as  you  usu- 
ally wear  every  day.'  'Then  my  experiment 
seems  to  have  succeeded,'  I  said.  'The  next 
time  I  come  ask  me  what  I  want,  as  I  had  fixed 
on  my  mind  certain  questions  to  ask  you,  but 


SEEN  BY  TWO  PERCIPIENTS.  239 

I  was  probably  waiting  for  an  invitation  to 
speak.' 

"  A  few  weeks  later  the  experiment  was  re- 
peated with  equal  success,  I,  as  before,  not 
informing  Z.  when  it  was  made.  On  this  oc- 
casion he  not  only  questioned  me  upon  the 
subject  which  was  at  that  time  under  very 
warm  discussion  between  us,  but  detained  me 
by  the  exercise  of  his  will,  some  time  after  I 
had  intimated  a  desire  to  leave.  As  on  the 
former  occasion  no  recollection  remained  of 
the  event,  or  seeming  event,  of  the  preceding 
night." 

Mr.  Moses  writes,  September  2/th,  1885,  con- 
firming this  account.  Mr.  Moses  also  says  that 
he  has  never  on  any  other  occasion  seen  the 
figure  of  a  living  person  in  a  place  where  the  per- 
son was  not. 

The  next  case,  while  presenting  features  sim- 
ilar to  the  last,  differs  from  it  in  this  respect : 
that  there  are  two  percipients.  It  is  copied 
from  the  manuscript  book  of  the  agent,  Mr.  S. 
H.  B. 

Mr.  B.  writes  : — "  On  a  certain  Sunday  evening 
in  November,  1881,  having  been  reading  of  the 
great  power  which  the  human  will  is  capable  of 
exercising,  I  determined  with  the  whole  force  of 


240     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

my  being  that  I  would  be  present  in  spirit  in  the 
front  bedroom,  on  the  second  floor  of  a  house 
situated  at  22  Hogarth  Road,  Kensington,  in 
which  room  slept  two  ladies  of  my  acquaintance, 
Miss  L.  S.  V.  and  Miss  E.  C.  V.,  aged  respect- 
ively twenty-five  and  eleven  years.  I  lived  at 
this  time  at  23  Kildare  Gardens,  a  distance  of 
about  three  miles  from  Hogarth  Road,  and  I  had 
not  mentioned  in  any  way  my  intention  of  trying 
this  experiment  to  either  of  the  above  named 
ladies,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  was  only 
on  retiring  to  rest  upon  Sunday  night  that  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  do  so.  The  time  at 
which  I  determined  I  would  be  there  was  one 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  I  also  had  a  strong 
intention  of  making  my  presence  perceptible. 

"  On  the  following  Thursday  I  went  to  see  the 
ladies  in  question,  and  in  the  course  of  conversa- 
tion (without  any  allusion  to  the  subject  on  my 
part),  the  elder  one  told  me  that  on  the  previous 
Sunday  night  she  had  been  much  terrified  by 
perceiving  me  standing  by  her  bedside,  and  that 
she  screamed  when  the  apparition  advanced  to- 
wards her,  and  awoke  her  little  sister  who  also 
saw  me.  I  asked  her  if  she  was  awake  at  the 
time,  and  she  replied  most  decidedly  in  the 
affirmative  ;  and  upon  my  inquiring  the  time  of 


VERIFICATIONS.  241 

the  occurrence,  she  replied  about  one  o'clock  in 
the  morning." 

Miss  Verity's  account  is  as  follows  : — 

"  On  a  certain  Sunday  evening,  about  twelve 
months  since,  at  our  house  in  Hogarth  Road, 
Kensington,  I  distinctly  saw  Mr.  B.  in  my  room 
about  one  o'clock.  I  was  perfectly  awake  and 
was  much  terrified.  I  awoke  my  sister  by  scream- 
ing, and  she  saw  the  apparition  herself.  Three 
days  after,  when  I  saw  Mr.  B.,  I  told  him  what 
had  happened  ;  but  it  was  some  time  before  I 
could  recover  from  the  shock  I  had  received,  and 
the  remembrance  is  too  vivid  to  be  ever  erased 

from  my  memory. 

"L.  S.  VERITY." 

Miss  E.  C.  Verity  writes: — 

"  I  remember  the  occurrence  of  the  event  de- 
scribed by  my  sister  in  the  annexed  paragraph, 
and  her  description  is  quite  correct.  I  saw  the 
apparition  at  the  same  time  and  under  the  same 
circumstances." 

Miss  A.  S.  Verity  writes: — 

"I  remember  quite   clearly  the  evening  my 
eldest  sister  awoke  me  by  calling  to  me  from  an 
16 


242     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

adjoining  room,  and  upon  my  going  to  her  bed- 
side, where  she  slept  with  my  youngest  sister,  they 
both  told  me  they  had  seen  S.  H.  B.  standing 
in  the  room.  The  time  was  about  one  o'clock. 
S.  H.  B.  was  in  evening  dress,  they  told  me." 

The  following  case,  while  of  the  same  general 
character,  presents  this  remarkable  difference :  that 
the  agent's  mind  was  not  at  all  directed  to  the 
real  percipient,  but  only  to  the  place  where  the 
percipient  happened  to  be.  It  is  from  the  note- 
book of  Mr.  S.  H.  B.  who  was  also  the  agent. 

"  On  Friday,  December  ist,  1882,  at  9  :  30  P.  M.,  I 
went  into  a  room  alone  and  sat  by  the  fireside, 
and  endeavored  so  strongly  to  fix  my  mind  upon 
the  interior  of  a  house  at  Kew  (viz.,  Clarence 
Road),  in  which  resided  Miss  V.  and  her  two 
sisters,  that  I  seemed  to  be  actually  in  the 
house. 

"  During  this  experiment  I  must  have  fallen  into 
a  mesmeric  sleep,  for,  although  I  was  conscious,  I 
could  not  move  my  limbs.  I  did  not  seem  to 
have  lost  the  power  of  moving  them,  but  I  could 
not  make  the  effort  to  do  so.  ...  At  10  P.  M.  I 
regained  my  normal  state  by  an  effort  of  the  will 
and  wrote  down  on  a  sheet  of  note-paper  the  fore- 
going statements. 


PHANTASM  AT  A  DESIGNATED   PLACE.     243 

' '  When  I  went  to  bed  on  this  same  night, 
I  determined  that  I  would  be  in  the  front  bed- 
room of  the  above-mentioned  house  at  12  P.M., 
and  remain  there  until  I  had  made  my  pres- 
ence perceptible  to  the  inmates  of  that  room. 
On  the  next  day,  Saturday,  I  went  to  Kew  to 
spend  the  evening,  and  met  there  a  married  sister 
of  Miss  V.  (viz.,  Mrs.  L.).  This  lady  I  had  only 
met  once  before  and  that  was  at  a  ball,  two  years 
previous  to  the  above  date.  We  were  both  in 
fancy  dress  at  the  time,  and  as  we  did  not  ex- 
change more  than  half  a  dozen  words,  this  lady 
would  naturally  have  lost  any  vivid  recollection 
of  my  appearance  even  if  she  had  noticed  it. 

"  In  the  course  of  conversation  (although  I  did 
not  for  a  moment  think  of  asking  her  any  ques- 
tions on  such  a  subject),  she  told  me  that  on  the 
previous  night  she  had  seen  me  distinctly  on  two 
occasions.  She  had  spent  the  night  at  Clarence 
Road,  and  had  slept  in  the  front  bedroom.  At 
about  half-past  nine,  she  had  seen  me  in  the  pas- 
sage going  from  one  room  to  another,  and  at  12 
P.  M. ,  when  she  was  wide-awake,  she  had  seen  me 
enter  the  bedroom  and  walk  round  to  where  she 
was  lying  and  take  her  hair  (which  is  very  long), 
into  my  hand.  She  told  me  that  the  apparition 
took  hold  of  her  hand  and  gazed  intently  into  it, 


244     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

whereupon  she  spoke,  saying,  'You  need  not 
look  at  the  lines  for  I  have  never  had  any 
trouble.' 

"  She  then  awoke  her  sister,  Miss  V.,  who  was 
sleeping  with  her,  and  told  her  about  it.  After 
hearing  this  account  I  took  the  statement  which 
I  had  written  down  the  previous  evening  from 
my  pocket  and  showed  it  to  some  of  the  persons 
present,  who  were  much  astonished,  although 
incredulous. 

"  I  asked  Mrs.  L.  if  she  was  not  dreaming  at 
the  time  of  the  latter  experience,  but  she  stoutly 
denied,  and  stated  that  she  had  forgotten  what  I 
was  like,  but  seeing  me  so  distinctly  she  recognized 
me  at  once.  At  my  request  she  wrote  a  brief 
account  of  her  impressions  and  signed  it." 

The  following  is  the  lady's  statement : — 

"On  Friday,  December  1st,  1882,  I  was  on  a 
visit  to  my  sister,  at  21  Clarence  Road,  Kew,  and 
about  9 :  30  P.  M.  I  was  going  from  my  bedroom 
to  get  some  water  from  the  bath-room,  when  I 
distinctly  saw  Mr.  S.  B.  whom  I  had  only  seen 
once  before,  two  years  ago,  walk  before  me  past 
the  bath-room,  toward  the  bedroom  at  the  end 
of  the  landing. 

"  About  1 1  o'clock  we  retired  for  the  night ; 
about  12  o'clock  I  was  still  awake,  and  the  door 


THE  STA  TEMENT  CORROBORA  TED.         245 

opened  and  Mr.  S.  B.  came  into  the  room  and 
walked  around  to  the  bedside,  and  there  stood 
with  one  foot  on  the  ground,  and  the  other  knee 
resting  on  a  chair.  He  then  took  my  hair  into 
his  hand,  after  which  he  took  my  hand  in  his  and 
looked  very  intently  into  the  palm.  '  Ah/  I  said 
(speaking  to  him),  'you  need  not  look  at  the  lines 
for  I  never  had  any  trouble.'  I  then  awoke  my 
sister ;  I  was  not  nervous,  but  excited,  and  Segan 
to  fear  some  serious  illness  would  befall  her,  she 
being  delicate  at  the  time,  but  she  is  progressing 

more  favorably  now. 

"H.  L." 
(Full  name  signed.) 

Miss  Verity  also  corroborates  this  statement. 

The  following  is  still  another  case  of  one  mind 
acting  upon  another  mind  at  a  distance  and  at 
least  in  a  most  unusual  way.  Call  it  mind-pro- 
jection, making  one's  self  visible  at  a  distance, 
sending  out  the  subliminal  self — call  it  what  we 
may — it  is  a  glimpse  of  a  phenomenon,  rare  in 
its  occurrence,  but  which  nevertheless  has  been 
observed  a  sufficient  number  of  times  to  claim 
serious  attention,  and  calm  and  candid  considera- 
tion. The  case  is  from  Phantasms  of  the  Living, 
and  is  furnished  by  "  Mrs,  Russell  of  Belgaum, 


246     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

India,  wife  of  Mr.  H.  R.  Russell,  Educational 
Inspector  in  the  Bombay  Presidency."  It  differs 
from  those  already  cited  in  the  fact  that  it  is  un- 
connected with  either  sleep  or  hypnotism,  but 
both  agent  and  percipient  were  awake  and  in  a 
perfectly  normal  condition. 

Mrs.  Russell  writes : — 

"June  8th,  1886. 

"  As  desired  I  write  down  the  following  facts  as 
well  as  I  can  recall  them.  I  was  living  in  Scotland, 
my  mother  and  sisters  in  Germany.  I  lived  with 
a  very  dear  friend  of  mine,  and  went  to  Germany 
every  year  to  see  my  people.  It  had  so  happened 
that  I  could  not  go  home  as  usual  for  two  years, 
when  on  a  sudden  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  and 
see  my  family.  They  knew  nothing  of  my  in- 
tention ;  I  had  never  gone  in  early  spring  before  ; 
and  I  had  no  time  to  let  them  know  by  letter  that 
I  was  going  to  set  off.  I  did  not  like  to  send  a 
telegram  for  fear  of  frightening  my  mother.  The 
thought  came  to  me  to  will  with  all  my  might  to 
appear  to  one  of  my  sisters,  never  mind  which  of 
them,  in  order  to  give  them  warning  of  my 
coming.  I  only  thought  most  intensely  for  a  few 
minutes  of  them,  wishing  with  all  my  might  to  be 
seen  by  one  of  them — half  present  myself,  in 


PHANTASM  TRANSFERRED  300  MILES.      247 

vision,  at  home.  I  did  not  take  more  than  ten 
minutes,  I  think.  I  started  by  the  Leith  steamer 
on  Saturday  night,  end  of  April,  1859.  ^  wished 
to  appear  at  home  about  6  o'clock  P.  M.  that  same 
Saturday. 

"  I  arrived  at  home  at  6  o'clock  on  Tuesday 
morning  following.  I  entered  the  house  without 
any  one  seeing  me,  the  hall  being  cleaned  and  the 
front  door  open.  I  walked  into  the  room.  One 
of  my  sisters  stood  with  her  back  to  the  door  ;  she 
turned  round  when  she  heard  the  door  opening, 
and  on  seeing  me,  stared  at  me,  turning  deadly 
pale,  and  letting  what  she  had  in  her  hand  fall.  I 
had  been  silent.  Then  I  spoke  and  said,  '  It  is  I. 
Why  do  you  look  so  frightened  ? '  When  she 
answered,  '  I  thought  I  saw  you  again  as  Stinchen 
(another  sister)  saw  you  on  Saturday.' 

"  When  I  inquired,  she  told  me  that  on  Saturday 
evening  about  6  o'clock,  my  sister  saw  me  quite 
clearly,  entering  the  room  in  which  she  was,  by  one 
door,  passing  through  it,  opening  the  door  of  an- 
other room  in  which  my  mother  was,  and  shutting 
the  door  behind  me.  She  rushed  after  what  she 
thought  was  I,  calling  out  my  name,  and  was 
quite  stupefied  when  she  did  not  find  me  with  my 
mother.  My  mother  could  not  understand  my 
sister's  excitement.  They  looked  everywhere  for 


248     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

me,  but  of  course  did  not  find  me.  My  mother 
was  very  miserable ;  she  thought  I  might  be 
dying. 

"  My  sister  who  had  seen  me  (i.  e.  my  appari- 
tion) was  out  that  morning  when  I  arrived.  I  sat 
down  on  the  stairs  to  watch,  when  she  came  in, 
the  effect  of  my  real  appearance  on  her.  When 
she  looked  up  and  saw  me,  sitting  motionless,  she 
called  out  my  name  and  nearly  fainted. 

"  My  sister  had  never  seen  anything  unearthly 
either  before  that  or  afterwards  ;  and  I  have  never 
made  any  such  experiments  since — nor  will  I,  as  the 
sister  that  saw  me  first  when  I  really  came  home, 
had  a  very  severe  illness  afterwards,  caused  by  the 

shock  to  her  nerves. 

J.  M.  RUSSELL." 

Mrs.  Russell's  sister,  in  answer  to  her  inquiry 
whether  she  remembered  the  incident,  replied : 
"Of  course  I  remember  the  matter  as  well  as 
though  it  had  happened  to-day.  Pray  don't  come 
appearing  to  me  again  !  " 

We  started  out  with  this  proposition.  Percep- 
tions— those  of  the  class  denominated  hallucina- 
tions— may  have  their  origin  telepathically.  In 
proof  and  illustration  of  that  proposition  we  have 
50  far  presented  a  single  class  of  cases,  namely, 


VARIOUS  CONDITIONS.  249 

Those  where  the  hallucination  was  produced  with 
will  and  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  agent.  The 
cases  present  the  following  conditions: — 

(1)  The  agent  being  in    a  normal  condition — 
the  percipient  hypnotized,  the  hypnotic  condition 
having  been  produced  at  a  distance  of  a  hundred 
yards — and  from  a  point  from  which  the  percipient 
could  not  be  seen. 

(2)  The   agent    in   the   hypnotic   condition ;  a 
definite  hallucination  strongly  desired  and  decided 
upon  beforehand   was   produced,  the   percipient 
being  in  a  normal  state. 

(3)  The  agent  was  in  normal  sleep.  Hallucination 
decided  upon  before  going  to  sleep  was  produced 
— the  percipient  awake  and  in  normal  condition. 

(4)  Both  agent  and  percipient  awake  and  normal 
— hallucination    produced   at   a  distance  of  four 
hundred  miles.     In  one  case  the  phantasm  is  seen 
by  two  percipients,  and  in  another  case  the  place 
only   where   the   phantasm    should    appear    was 
strongly  in   the   agent's   mind ;    and    while   the 
sisters  who  usually   occupied   that  room    might 
naturally  be  expected  to  be  the  percipients,  as  a 
matter  of  fact  another  person,  a  married   sister 
who   happened  to  be   visiting  them — a  compar- 
ative stranger  to  the  agent — was  occupying  the 
room  and  became  the  percipient. 


250     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

In  each  of  these  cases  a  definite  purpose  was 
formed  by  the  agent  to  produce  a  certain  halluci- 
nation or  present  a  certain  picture — generally  a 
representation  or  phantasm  of  himself  to  the  per- 
cipient. A  picture  or  phantasm  is  seen  by  the 
intended  percipient,  and,  on  comparison,  in  each 
case  it  is  found  that  it  is  the  same  phantasm  that 
the  agent  had  endeavored  to  project  and  make 
visible,  and  that  it  was  perceived  in  the  same  place 
and  at  the  same  time  that  the  agent  had  intended 
that  it  should  be  seen. 

Can  these  statements  be  received  as  true  and 
reliable  ?  In  reply  we  say,  the  evidence  having 
been  carefully  examined  is  of  such  a  character  as 
to  entitle  it  to  belief,  and  the  errors  of  observation 
and  reporting  are  trifling,  and  not  such  as  would 
injure  the  credibility  of  statements  made  regarding 
any  event  which  was  a  matter  of  ordinary  obser- 
vation ;  moreover,  these  cases  now  have  become 
so  numerous  and  have  been  so  carefully  observed 
that  they  should  be  judged  by  the  ordinary  rules 
of  evidence ;  and  by  that  rule  they  should  be 
received. 

Having  been  received,  how  can  they  be  ex- 
plained ? 

It  may  be  answered : — 

(i)  That  these  apparent  sequences  presenting 


EXPLANA  TOR  Y  THEORIES.  25 1 

the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  are  merely  chance 
coincidences.  But  on  carefully  applying  the  doc- 
trine of  chances,  it  is  found  that  the  probability 
that  these  coincidences  of  time  and  place,  and 
the  identity  of  the  pictures  presented  and  per- 
ceived, occurred  by  chance,  would  be  only  one  in 
a  number  so  large  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  repre- 
sent it  in  figures,  and  quite  impossible  for  any 
mind  to  comprehend.  And  that  such  a  coinci- 
dence should  occur  repeatedly  in  one  person's 
experience  is  absolutely  incredible. 

(2)  The  circumstances  of  distance  and  situation 
render  it  certain  that  the  phantasms  could  not 
have  been  communicated  or  presented  to  the 
percipient  through  any  of  the  usual  channels, 
of  communication — by  means  of  the  physical 
organs  of  sense  —  even  granting  that  they 
could  be  so  transferred  under  favorable  condi- 
tions. 

If,  then,  these  cases  must  be  received  as  authen- 
tic and  true,  and  if  they  cannot  be  disposed  of  as 
chance  coincidences,  nor  explained  by  any  ordi- 
nary method  or  law  of  production  or  transmis- 
sion, then  there  must  be  some  other  method  of 
mental  interaction,  and  mental  intercommunica- 
tion not  usually  recognized,  by  means  of  which 
these  pictures  or  phantasms  are  produced  or 


2£2     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

transferred,  and  this  unusual  method  of  mental 
interaction  and  intercommunication  we  designate 
telepathy.  What  the  exact  method  is  by  which 
this  unusual  interaction  is  accomplished  is  not 
fully  demonstrated,  any  more  than  are  the 
methods  of  the  various  interacting  forces  be- 
tween the  sun  and  the  planets  or  amongst  the 
planets  themselves.  The  hypothesis  of  a  univer- 
sal or  inter-stellar  ether  has  never  been  demon- 
strated ;  it  is  only  a  hypothesis  framed  because 
it  is  necessary  in  order  to  explain  and  support 
another  undemonstrated  theory,  namely,  the 
vibratory  or  wave  theory  of  light.  We  do  not 
know  what  the  substance  or  force  which  we  call 
attraction  really  is.  Light  has  one  method  of 
movement  and  action,  sound  another,  heat  an- 
other, and  electricity  another,  but  most  of  the 
propositions  concerning  these  methods  of  action 
are  only  theories  or  hypotheses  having  a  greater 
or  less  degree  of  probability  as  the  case  may  be. 
They  were  invented  to  account  for  certain  actual 
and  undeniable  phenomena,  and  they  are  re- 
spected by  all  men  of  science  or  other  persons 
having  sufficient  knowledge  of  these  different 
subjects  to  entitle  them  to  an  opinion.  The 
same  thing  is  true  of  telepathy ;  its  facts  must  be 
known  and  its  theories  well  considered  by  those 


REASONABLE  HYPOTHESES.  253 

who  assume  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  them  ;  and 
when  known  they  are  respected.  The  Copernican 
theory  of  the  planetary  movements  was  formu- 
lated three  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  ;  it  was 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  later  when  Newton 
proposed  the  first  rational  theory  regarding  a 
force  which  might  explain  these  motions.  For 
this  he  was  ridiculed  and  even  ostracized  by  the 
self-constituted  judges  of  his  day.  Telepathy 
has  been  the  subject  of  careful  study  and  experi- 
ment comparatively  only  a  few  years,  and  it  can 
hardly,  at  this  early  date,  expect  better  treatment 
at  the  hands  of  its  critics.  Its  facts,  however,  re- 
main, and  its  explanatory  theories  are  being  duly 
considered. 

What,  then,  are  the  theories  or  hypotheses 
which  may  aid  us  in  forming  an  idea  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  a  thought,  a  conception,  or  a  mental 
picture  may  pass  between  two  persons  so  situated 
that  no  communication  could  pass  between  them 
through  the  ordinary  channels  of  communication 
— sight,  hearing,  or  touch  ?  Let  us  suppose  two 
persons  A  and  B  to  be  so  situated.  A  is  the 
agent  or  person  having  unusual  ability  to  impress 
his  own  thought,  or  any  conception  or  mental 
picture  which  he  may  form  in  his  own  mind, 
upon  some  other  mind  ;  and  B  is  the  percipient 


2$ 4     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

or  a  person  having  unusual  ability  to  receive  or 
perceive  such  thoughts  or  mental  pictures.  Sup- 
pose these  two  people  to  be  in  the  country  and 
engaged  in  farming.  Upon  a  certain  morning  A 
takes  his  axe  and  goes  to  the  woods,  half  a  mile 
distant,  and  is  engaged  in  cutting  brush  and  trees 
for  the  purpose  of  clearing  the  land,  and  B  goes 
into  the  garden  to  care  for  the  growing  vegeta- 
bles. After  an  hour  spent  in  these  respective 
occupations,  B  becomes  disquieted,  even  alarmed, 
oppressed  with  the  feeling  that  some  misfortune 
has  happened  and  that  A  is  needing  his  assist- 
ance. He  is  unable  to  continue  his  work  and  at 
once  starts  for  the  woods  to  seek  for  A.  He 
finds  that  A  has  received  a  glancing  blow  from 
his  axe  which  has  deeply  wounded  his  foot,  dis- 
abled him,  and  put  his  life  in  immediate  danger 
from  hemorrhage.  Here  the  thought  of  A  in  his 
extreme  peril  goes  out  intensely  to  B,  desiring  his 
presence  ;  and  B,  by  some  unusual  perceptive 
power,  takes  cognizance  of  this  intense  thought 
and  wish.  This  is  telepathy.  Again,  suppose  B 
hears  a  voice  which  he  recognizes  as  A's  calling 
his  name  and  with  a  peculiar  effect  which  B 
recognizes  as  distress  or  entreaty.  Or,  again,  that 
B  sees  a  picture  or  representation  of  A  lying 
wounded  and  bleeding,  still  it  is  a  telepathic 


VARIOUS  HYPOTHESES  EXAMINED.         255 

impulse  from  A  and  taken  cognizance  of  by  B 
which  constitutes  the  communication  between 
them,  whatever  the  exact  nature  or  method  of 
the  communication  may  be. 

The  theories  or  hypotheses  which  have  been 
put  forward  regarding  the  method  by  which  this 
telepathic  influence  or  impact  is  conveyed  may 
be  noted  as  follows  : — 

(1)  That  of  a  vibratory  medium,  always  pres- 
ent and  analogous  to  the  atmosphere  for  propa- 
gating sound  or  the  universal  ether  for  propa- 
gating light. 

(2)  An  effluence  of  some  sort  emanating  from 
the  persons  concerned  and  acting  as  a  medium 
for  the  time  being. 

(3)  A  sixth  sense. 

(4)  A  duplex  personality  or  subliminal  self. 
First,  then,  as  regards  the  vibratory  hypothesis ; 

it  would  demand  a  variety  of  media  to  convey 
separately  something  corresponding  to  the  sense 
of  sight,  the  sense  of  hearing,  and  to  each  of  the 
other  senses — touch,  taste,  and  smell — as  all  these 
sensations  have  been  telepathically  transmitted, 
or  else  there  must  exist  one  single  medium  capa- 
ble of  transmitting  these  many  widely  different 
methods  of  sensation  separately, — either  of  which 
suppositions  are,  to  say  the  least,  bewildering. 


256     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Such  a  medium  must  also  possess  a  power  of 
penetrating  or  acting  through  intervening  obsta- 
cles, such  as  no  medium  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted possesses  ;  and,  lastly,  in  addition  to 
numerous  apparently  insurmountable  difficulties 
and  insufficiencies,  there  is  no  proof  whatever 
that  any  such  vibratory  medium  exists. 

Second.  Regarding  a  vital  effluence  or  some 
physical  emanation  or  aura  belonging  to  each  in- 
dividual, and  by  means  of  which  communication 
is  possible  between  persons  separated  by  too 
great  a  distance  to  permit  communication  through 
the  ordinary  channels  ;  it  is  at  least  conceivable 
that  such  an  aura  or  personal  atmosphere  exists, 
and  by  some  it  is  claimed  to  be  demonstrated  ; 
but  admitting  its  existence,  that  it  would  be 
capable  of  fulfilling  the  numerous  functions  de- 
manded of  it  in  the  premises  is  doubtful. 

Third.  That  the  telepathic  intercommunication 
is  accomplished  by  means  of  a  sixth  sense — a 
sort  of  compend  of  all  the  other  senses,  with 
added  powers  as  regards  distance  and  intervening 
obstacles — is  a  hypothesis  which  has  been  urged 
by  some,  and  is  at  least  intelligible ;  but,  while  it 
presents  an  intelligible  explanation  of  such  facts 
as  clairvoyance  and  the  hearing  of  voices,  there  is 
a  large  class  of  facts,  as  we  shall  see,  which  utterly 


THEORY  OF  A  SUBLIMINAL  SELF.  257 

refuse  to  fall  into  line  or  be  explained  by  this 
hypothesis. 

Fourth.  The  hypothesis  of  different  strata  of 
personality — or  of  a  second  or  subliminal  self — is 
the  one  which  best  fulfils  the  necessary  conditions 
and  also  harmonizes  the  greatest  number  of  facts 
when  arranged  with  reference  to  this  idea.  There 
is  also  real,  substantial  evidence  that  such  a 
second  personality  actually  exists,  some  of  the 
facts  bearing  upon  this  subject  having  been 
presented  in  former  chapters. 

Those  of  my  readers  who  have  carefully  followed 
the  cases  of  unusual  mental  action  there  presented 
— cases  of  thought-transference,  of  clairvoyance, 
of  remarkable  mind-action  in  the  hypnotic  trance 
and  in  natural  somnambulism — in  well  marked 
examples  of  double  consciousness  as  shown  in  the 
cases  of  Felida  X.,  of  Alma  Z.,  of  Ansel  Bourne,  and 
the  hypnotic  subject,  Madame  B.,  in  her  various 
personalities  of  Leonie,  L£ontine,  and  L6onore,  in 
automatic  action  as  displayed  in  Planchette-writ- 
ing,  in  trance-speaking  and  in  crystal-gazing,  cannot 
have  failed  to  observe,  throughout  the  whole  series, 
mind  acting  rationally  and  intelligently,  quite 
independently  of  the  ordinary  consciousness,  and 
even  at  times  independently  of  the  whole  physical 
organization.  We  have  considered  the  evidence 


258     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

which  points  to  the  fact,  or  at  least  to  the  theory 
of  a  subliminal  self,  or  another  personality,  in 
some  manner  bound  up  in  that  complicated 
physical  and  mental  mechanism  which  constitutes 
what  we  term  an  individual.  We  have  seen  that 
there  are  weighty  proofs  that  such  a  secondary  or 
subliminal,  or,  if  you  choose  so  to  designate  it, 
supranormal  self,  actually  exists,  and  that  it 
exhibits  functions  and  powers  far  exceeding  the 
functions  and  powers  of  the  ordinary  self.  We 
have  seen  it  expressing  its  own  personal  opinions, 
its  own  likes  and  dislikes,  quite  different  and 
opposite  to  the  opinions,  likes,  and  dislikes  of  the 
ordinary  self ;  having  its  own  separate  series  of 
remembered  actions  or  chain  of  memories,  its 
own  antecedent  history,  and  its  separate  present 
interests ;  and  especially  performing  actions  alto- 
gether beyond  the  powers  of  the  ordinary  self. 
We  have  seen  it  going  out  to  great  distances,  see- 
ing and  describing  scenes  and  events  there  taking 
place — for  example,  Swedenborg  at  Gottenburg 
witnessing  the  conflagration  at  Stockholm  ; 
Dr.  Gerault's  clairvoyant  maid-servant,  Marie,  in 
France,  seeing  the  sad  death  of  her  neighbor's  son, 
Limoges,  the  ropemaker,  while  serving  in  the 
Crimea ;  and  also  the  serious  illness  of  Dr.  Gerault's 
military  friend  in  Algiers.  Fitzgerald,  at  Bruns- 


FACULTIES  OF  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF.      259 

wick,  Me.,  seeing  and  describing  the  Fall  River 
fire  three  hundred  miles  away,  and  Mrs.  Porter,  at 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  describing  the  burning  of  the 
steamer  Henry  Clay  while  it  was  occurring  on  the 
Hudson  River  near  the  village  of  Yonkers.  We 
have  seen  this  same  subliminal  self  in  the  case  of 
Mr.  Stead,  going  out  and  acquiring  desired  knowl- 
edge relating  to  the  location,  occupation,  and 
needs  of  persons  from  whom  he  desired  such  in- 
formation, and  bringing  it  back  and  reporting  it 
by  means  of  automatic  writing.  Again,  we  have 
seen  this  subliminal  self  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Newn- 
ham,  perceiving  the  silently  written  and  some- 
times even  the  unwritten  questions  of  her  hus- 
band, and  automatically  writing  the  answers  by 
means  of  Planchette  ;  and  we  have  seen  it  pro- 
ducing hallucinations  of  hearing  as  in  the  case  of 
L6onore  causing  Le"ontine  to  hear  a  voice  reprov- 
ing her  for  her  flippancy. 

A  remarkable  series  of  facts  are  here  pointed 
out,  facts  some  of  which  are  akin  to  those  which 
have  for  ages  been  lying  about  in  the  lumber 
rooms  of  history  or  in  out-of-the-way  corners  of 
men's  memories,  neglected  and  discredited,  be- 
cause unexplained,  unaccounted  for,  forming  no 
part  of  any  recognized  system  of  mental  action, 
and  some  only  recently  observed  and  even  now 


260     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

looked  at  askance  for  the  same  reason.  They 
have  remained  a  mass  of  undigested  and  un- 
arranged  facts,  without  system,  without  any 
ascertained  relation  to  each  other,  pointing  to  no 
definite  principle,  defined  by  no  definite  law.  It 
is  only  within  the  past  decade  that  these  facts 
have  been  studied  with  reference  to  the  action  of 
a  subliminal  self. 

But  this  new  and  startling  idea  being  once 
admitted  and  brought  to  the  front,  it  is  found 
that  not  only  in  the  whole  series  of  observed 
automatic  actions  in  the  somnambulism  of  the 
hypnotic  state,  and  that  of  ordinary  sleep,  are 
the  organs  of  the  unconscious  body  made  use  of 
by  this  subconscious  or  subliminal  self,  but  also 
in  dreams,  in  reverie,  in  moments  of  abstraction, 
of  strong  emotion  or  mental  excitement,  and  even 
in  the  case  of  some  peculiarly  susceptible  persons 
in  the  ordinary  waking  condition,  this  subliminal 
self  can  greatly  influence  and  sometimes  take 
entire  control  of  the  action  of  the  body. 

It  will  be  seen  then,  how  wide  and  important  is 
the  range  of  phenomena  in  which  the  subliminal 
self  appears  as  an  active  agent,  impressing  its  own 
special  knowledge,  however  acquired,  its  ideas, 
pictures,  and  images  upon  the  primary  self,  and 
causing  them  to  be  perceived,  remembered,  and 


KEY  TO  THE  PHENOMENA.  261 

expressed  by  it ;  and  with  this  unusual  power  in 
view,  evidently  it  is  in  this  direction  also  that  we 
must  look  for  the  key  to  that  still  more  remark- 
able series  of  phenomena  which  are  known  as 
phantasms  or  apparitions. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PHANTASMS   CONTINUED. 

So  far  a  single  class  of  cases  has  been  brought  for- 
ward in  proof  and  illustration  of  our  proposition, 
that  sensation  may  be  produced  telepathic  ally, 
namely,  the  voluntary  class;  as  for  instance, 
when  it  has  been  resolved  beforehand  and 
strongly  desired  and  willed  that  a  representation 
or  apparition  of  one's  self  should  be  seen  and 
recognized  by  another  person  at  a  specified  time 
and  place,  and  it  has  been  so  recognized.  This 
class  contains  fewer  recorded  cases,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  are  specially  valuable,  because 
the  element  of  error  arising  from  chance  coinci- 
dence is  almost  entirely  excluded.  In  addition 
to  these  voluntary  or  prearranged  cases  there  is, 
however,  another  and  much  larger  class  of  cases 
which  occur  spontaneously,  unthought  of,  and  un- 
expected by  the  percipient  as  well  as  by  the 
agent. 

Passing  over  cases  of  an  indefinite  or  undefined 
262 


VERIDICAL  DREAMS.  263 

sense  of  danger  or  peril — or  of  a  "  presence  " — we 
will  proceed  to  notice  some  well  authenticated 
cases  of  spontaneous  impressions  of  a  definite 
character  made  upon  the  senses,  and  especially 
upon  the  sense  of  sight.  This  definite  impression 
may  be  made  upon  the  senses  of  the  percipient 
in  dreams — especially  those  of  a  veridical  char- 
acter, where  there  is  a  definite  reality  correspond- 
ing in  time  and  circumstances. 

It  may  also  be  made  when  the  percipient  is  in 
a  condition  of  reverie,  between  sleeping  and 
waking,  and  even  when  wide  awake  and  in  a 
perfectly  normal  condition. 

This  definite  impression  of  seeing  or  hearing 
may  be  made  upon  a  single  percipient,  or  it  may 
be  perceived  by  several  persons  at  once. 

The  following  may  serve  as  examples  of  veridi- 
cal dreams.  They  were  carefully  examined  by 
the  editors  of  Phantasms  of  the  Living,  and 
especially  by  Mr.  Gurney.  Only  initials  in  the 
first  case  were  given  for  publication. 

"  In  the  year  1857,  I  had  a  brother  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  Indian  Mutiny.  I  had  been  ill  in 
the  spring  and  taken  from  my  lessons  in  the 
school-room,  consequently,  I  heard  more  of 
what  was  going  on  from  the  newspapers  than  a 
girl  of  thirteen  ordinarily  would  in  those  days. 


264     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

We  were  in  the  habit  of  hearing  regularly  from 
my  brother,  but  in  June  and  July  of  that  year  no 
letters  came,  and  what  arrived  in  August  proved 
to  have  been  written  quite  early  in  the  spring, 
and  were  full  of  disturbances  around  his  sta- 
tion. 

"He  was  in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany— an  officer  in  the  8th  Native  Infantry.  I 
was  always  devoted  to  him,  and  I  grieved  and 
fretted  far  more  than  any  of  my  elders  knew  at 
his  danger.  I  cannot  say  that  I  dreamt  con- 
stantly of  him,  but  when  I  did  the  impressions 
were  very  vivid  and  abiding. 

"  On  one  occasion  his  personal  appearance  was 
being  discussed  and  I  remarked,  '  He  is  not  like 
that  now,  he  has  no  beard  nor  whiskers ; '  and 
when  asked  why  I  said  such  a  thing,  I  replied, 
'  I  know  it,  for  I  have  seen  him  in  my  dreams  ; ' 
and  this  brought  a  severe  reprimand  from  my 
governess,  who  never  allowed  '  such  nonsense '  to 
be  talked  of. 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  25th  of  September, 
quite  early,  I  awoke  from  a  dream,  to  find  my 
sister  holding  me  and  much  alarmed.  I  had 
screamed  and  struggled,  crying  out,  '  Is  he  really 
dead  ? '  When  I  fully  awoke,  I  felt  a  burning 
sensation  in  my  head.  I  could  not  speak  for  a 


SHOT  ON  HIS  WA  Y  TO  LUC  KNOW.  265 

moment  or  two  ;  I  knew  my  sister  was  there,  but 
I  neither  saw  nor  felt  her. 

"  In  about  a  minute,  during  which  she  said  my 
eyes  were  staring  beyond  her,  I  ceased  struggling 
cried  out,  '  Harry's  dead,  they  have  shot  him,' 
and  fainted.  When  I  recovered  I  found  my 
sister  had  been  sent  away,  and  an  aunt  who  had 
always  looked  after  me,  was  sitting  by  my  bed. 

"  In  order  to  soothe  my  excitement,  she  allowed 
me  to  tell  my  dream,  trying  all  the  time  to  per- 
suade me  to  regard  it  as  a  natural  consequence  of 
my  anxiety. 

"  When,  in  my  narration,  I  said  he  was  riding 
with  another  officer  and  mounted  soldiers  be- 
hind them,  she  exclaimed  '  My  dear,  that  shows 
you  it  is  only  a  dream,  for  your  brother  is  in  an 
infantry,  not  a  cavalry,  regiment.' 

"  Nothing,  however,  shook  my  feeling  that  I 
had  seen  a  reality ;  and  she  was  so  much  struck 
by  my  persistence  that  she  privately  made  notes 
of  the  dates  and  of  the  incidents,  even  to  the 
minutest  details  of  my  dream,  and  then  for  a  few 
days  the  matter  dropped,  but  I  felt  the  truth 
was  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  all.  In  a  short 
time  the  news  came  in  the  papers  : — '  Shot  down 
on  the  morning  of  the  25th,  when  on  his  way  to 
Lucknow.'  A  few  days  later  came  one  of  his 


266     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

missing  letters,  telling  how  his  own  regiment  had 
mutinied,  and  that  he  had  been  transferred  to  a 
command  in  the  I2th  Irregular  Cavalry,  bound 
to  join  Havelock's  force  in  the  relief  of  Luck- 
now. 

"  Some  eight  years  after,  the  officer  who  was 
riding  by  him  when  he  fell,  Captain  or  Major 
Grant,  visited  us  and  when,  in  compliance  with 
my  aunt's  request,  he  detailed  the  incidents  of 
that  sad  hour,  his  narration  tallied  (even  to  the 
description  of  buildings  on  their  left)  with  the 
notes  she  had  taken  the  morning  of  my  dream. 
I  should  also  add  that  we  heard  my  brother  had 
made  the  alteration  in  his  beard  and  whiskers,  just 
about  the  time  that  I  had  spoken  of  him  as  wear- 
ing them  differently." 

"  L.  A.  W." 

The  next  case  which  I  will  present  is  from  Dr. 
A.  K.  Young,  F.  R.  C.  S.  L,  of  the  Terrace, 
Monaghan,  Ireland. 

One  Monday  night,  in  December,  1836,  Dr. 
Young  had  the  following  dream,  or,  as  he  would 
prefer  to  call  it,  revelation.  He  found  himself 
suddenly  at  the  gate  of  Major  N.  M.'s  avenue, 
many  miles  from  his  home.  Close  to  him  was  a 
group  of  persons,  one  of  them  a  woman  with  a 
basket  on  her  arm,  the  rest  men,  four  of  whom 


A  STRANGE  EXPERIENCE.  267 

were  tenants  of  his  own,  while  the  others  were 
unknown  to  him.  Some  of  the  strangers  seemed 
to  be  murderously  assaulting  H.  W.,  one  of  his 
tenants,  and  he  interfered.  He  goes  on  to  say: 

"  I  struck  violently  at  the  man  on  my  left  and 
then  with  greater  violence  at  the  man's  face  to 
my  right.  Finding  to  my  surprise  that  I  did  not 
knock  him  down  either,  I  struck  again  and  again 
with  all  the  violence  of  a  man  frenzied  at  the 
sight  of  my  poor  friend's  murder.  To  my  great 
amazement  I  saw  that  my  arms,  although  visible 
to  my  eye,  were  without  substance  ;  and  the  bodies 
of  the  men  I  struck  at  and  my  own  came  close 
together  after  each  blow  through  the  shadowy 
arms  I  struck  with.  My  blows  were  delivered 
with  more  extreme  violence  than  I  ever  before 
exerted  ;  but  I  became  painfully  convinced  of  my 
incompetency.  I  have  no  consciousness  of  what 
happened  after  this  feeling  of  unsubstantiality 
came  upon  me." 

Next  morning,  Dr.  Young  experienced  the  stiff- 
ness and  soreness  of  violent  bodily  exercise  and 
was  informed  by  his  wife  that  in  the  course  of  the 
night  he  had  much  alarmed  her  by  striking  out 
again  and  again  with  his  arms  in  a  terrific  manner, 
'*  as  if  fighting  for  his  life."  He  in  turn  informed 
her  of  his  dream  and  begged  her  to  remember  the 


268     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

names  of  the  actors  in  it  who  were  known  to 
him. 

On  the  morning  of  the  following  day,  Wednes- 
day, he  received  a  letter  from  his  agent,  who  re- 
sided in  the  town  close  to  the  scene  of  his  dream, 
informing  him  that  his  tenant,  H.  W.,  had  been 
found  on  Tuesday  morning  at  Major  N.  M.'s  gate 
speechless  and  apparently  dying  from  a  fracture 
of  the  skull,  and  that  there  was  no  trace  of  the 
murderers.  That  night  Dr.  Young  started  for  the 
town  and  arrived  there  on  Thursday  morning. 
On  his  way  to  a  meeting  of  the  magistrates  he 
met  the  senior  magistrate  of  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try and  requested  him  to  give  orders  for  the 
arrest  of  the  three  men  whom,  besides  H.  W.,  he 
had  recognized  in  his  dream,  and  to  have  them 
examined  separately.  This  was  done.  The  three 
men  gave  identical  accounts  of  the  occurrence, 
and  all  named  the  woman  who  was  with  them. 
She  was  then  arrested  and  gave  precisely  similar 
testimony. 

They  said  that  between  eleven  and  twelve  on 
Monday  night  they  had  been  walking  homeward, 
all  together  along  the  road,  when  they  were  over- 
taken by  three  strangers,  two  of  whom  savagely 
assaulted  H.  W.,  while  the  other  prevented  his 
friends  from  interfering.  The  man  H.  W,  did 


BORDERLAND  CASES.  269 

not   die,   and    no   clue   was   ever   found  to   the 
assassins. 

The  Bishop  of  Clogher  writes  confirmatory  of 
Dr.  Young's  account. 

"  Borderland  cases  "  are  those  in  which  the  per- 
cipient, though  seeming  to  himself  to  be  awake, 
may  be  in  bed,  has  perhaps  been  asleep,  and  is  in 
that  condition  between  sleeping  and  waking 
known  as  reverie  and  which  we  have  seen  is  favor- 
able for  the  action  of  the  subliminal  self,  either  as 
agent  or  percipient. 

Passing,  then,  from  dreams  to  "  Borderland 
cases,"  the  first  example  under  this  head  which  I 
will  present  is  from  Mrs.  Richardson,  of  Combe 
Down,  Bath,  England. 

She  writes : — 

"August  26th,  1882. 

"  On  September  9th,  1848,  at  the  Siege  of  Mool- 
tan,  my  husband,  Major-General  Richardson,  C.  B., 
then  adjutant  of  his  regiment,  was  most  severely 
wounded,  and  supposing  himself  dying,  asked  one 
of  the  officers  with  him  to  take  the  ring  off  his 
finger  and  send  it  to  his  wife,  who  at  that  time 
was  fully  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant,  at 
Ferozepore.  On  the  night  of  September  pth, 
1848,  I  was  lying  in  my  bed  between  sleeping 
and  waking,  when  I  distinctly  saw  my  husband 


270     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

being  carried  off  the  field  seriously  wounded,  and 
heard  his  voice  saying,  '  Take  this  ring  off  my 
finger  and  send  it  to  my  wife.' 

"  All  the  next  day  I  could  not  get  the  sight  nor 
the  voice  out  of  my  mind.  In  due  time  I  heard 
of  Gen.  Richardson  having  been  severely  wounded 
in  the  assault  on  Mooltan.  He  survived,  how- 
ever, and  is  still  living.  It  was  not  for  some  time 
after  the  siege  that  I  heard  from  Colonel  L.,  the 
officer  who  helped  to  carry  Gen.  Richardson  off 
the  field,  that  the  request  as  to  the  ring  was 
actually  made  to  him,  just  as  I  had  heard  it  at 
Ferozepore  at  that  very  time. 

"  M.  A.  RICHARDSON." 

The  following  questions  were  addressed  to  Gen. 
Richardson. 

1.  "  Does  Gen.  Richardson  remember  saying, 
when   he   was  wounded  at  Mooltan,  '  Take  this 
ring  off  my  finger  and  send  it  to  my  wife,'  or 
words  to  that  effect  ?  " 

Ans.  "  Most  distinctly  ;  I  made  the  request  to 
my  commanding  officer,  Major  E.  S.  Lloyd,  who 
was  supporting  me  while  my  man  was  gone  for 
assistance." 

2.  "  Can   you    remember   the  time  of   the   in- 
cident?" 


MISS  HOSMER1  S  EXPERIENCE.  271 

Ans.  "  So  far  as  my  memory  serves  me,  I  was 
wounded  about  nine  p.  M.,  on  Sunday,  the  pth 
September,  1848." 

3.  "  Had  Gen.  Richardson,  before  he  left  home, 
promised  or  said  anything  to  Mrs.  R.  as  to  send- 
ing his  ring  to  her  in  case  he  should  be  wounded  ?  " 

Ans.  "  To  the  best  of  my  recollection,  never. 
Nor  had  I  any  kind  of  presentiment  on  the  sub- 
ject. I  naturally  felt  that  with  such  a  fire  as  we 
were  exposed  to,  I  might  get  hurt." 

The  next  case  is  from  Miss  Hosmer,  the  cele- 
brated sculptor.  It  was  written  out  by  Miss 
Balfour,  from  the  account  given  by  Lydia  Maria 
Child,  and  corrected  by  Miss  Hosmer,  July  I5th, 
1885. 

"  An  Italian  girl  named  Rosa  was  in  my  em- 
ploy for  some  time,  but  was  finally  obliged  to 
return  home  to  her  sister  on  account  of  confirmed 
ill-health.  When  I  took  my  customary  exercise 
on  horseback,  I  frequently  called  to  see  her.  On 
one  of  these  occasions  I  called  about  six  o'clock 
P.  M.,  and  found  her  brighter  than  I  had  seen  her 
for  some  time  past.  I  had  long  relinquished  hopes 
of  her  recovery,  but  there  was  nothing  in  her  ap- 
pearance that  gave  me  the  impression  of  imme- 
diate danger.  I  left  her  with  the  expectation  of 
calling  to  see  her  again  many  times.  She  ex- 


TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

pressed  a  wish  to  have  a  bottle  of  a  certain  kind 
of  wine,  which  I  promised  to  bring  her  myself 
next  morning. 

"  During  the  remainder  of  the  evening  I  do  not 
recollect  that  Rosa  was  in  my  thoughts  after  I 
parted  with  her.  I  retired  to  rest  in  good  health 
and  in  a  quiet  frame  of  mind.  But  I  woke  from 
a  sound  sleep  with  an  oppressive  feeling  that 
some  one  was  in  the  room. 

"  I  reflected  that  no  one  could  get  in  except  my 
maid,  who  had  the  key  to  one  of  the  two  doors  of 
my  room — both  of  which  doors  were  locked.  I 
was  able  dimly  to  distinguish  the  furniture  in  the 
room.  My  bed  was  in  the  middle  of  the  room 
with  a  screen  around  the  foot  of  it.  Thinking 
some  one  might  be  behind  the  screen  I  said, 
'Who's  there?'  but  got  no  answer.  Just  then 
the  clock  in  the  adjacent  room  struck  five  ;  and  at 
that  moment  I  saw  the  figure  of  Rosa  standing 
by  my  bedside  ;  and  in  some  way,  though  I  could 
not  venture  to  say  it  was  through  the  medium  of 
speech,  the  impression  was  conveyed  to  me  from 
her  of  these  words :  '  Adesso  son  f elice,  son  con- 
tenta.'  And  with  that  the  figure  vanished. 

"  At  the  breakfast  table  I  said  to  the  friend 
who  shared  the  apartment  with  me,  '  Rosa  is  dead.' 
'  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ? '  she  inquired  ;  '  you 


LORD  BROUGHAM'S  VISION.  273 

told  me  she  seemed  better  yesterday.'  I  related 
the  occurrence  of  the  morning  and  told  her  I  had 
a  strong  impression  Rosa  was  dead.  She  laughed 
and  said  I  had  dreamed  it  all.  I  assured  her  I 
was  thoroughly  awake.  She  continued  to  jest  on 
the  subject  and  slightly  annoyed  me  by  her 
persistence  in  believing  it  a  dream  when  I  was 
perfectly  sure  of  having  been  wide  awake.  To 
settle  the  question  I  summoned  a  messenger,  and 
sent  him  to  inquire  how  Rosa  did.  He  returned 
with  the  answer  that  she  died  that  morning  at 

five  o'clock. 

"  H.  G.  HOSMER." 

I  will  also  introduce  here  as  a  "  Borderland 
case  "  an  extract  from  The  Life  and  Times  of  Lord 
Brougham,  written  by  himself  (iSji),  the  extract 
being  an  entry  in  his  journal  during  a  journey  in 
Sweden  in  December,  1799.  It  is  as  follows  : — 

"  We  set  out  for  Gothenburg  [apparently  on 
December  i8th],  determined  to  make  for  Norway. 
About  one  in  the  morning,  arriving  at  a  decent  inn, 
we  decided  to  stop  over  night.  Tired  with  the 
cold  of  yesterday,  I  was  glad  to  take  advantage 
of  a  hot  bath  before  I  turned  in,  and  here  a 
most  remarkable  thing  happened  to  me — so 
remarkable  that  I  must  tell  the  story  from  the 

beginning. 
18 


274     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  After  I  left  the  High  School,  I  went  with  G., 
my  most  intimate  friend,  to  attend  the  classes  at 
the  University.  There  was  no  divinity  class,  but 
we  frequently  in  our  walks  discussed  and  spec- 
ulated upon  many  grave  subjects — among  others, 
on  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  a  future  state. 
This  question,  and  the  possibility,  I  will  not  say 
of  ghosts  walking,  but  of  the  dead  appearing  to 
the  living,  were  subjects  of  much  speculation ; 
and  we  actually  committed  the  folly  of  drawing 
up  an  agreement  written  with  our  blood,  to  the 
effect  that  which  ever  of  us  died  first  should 
appear  to  the  other,  and  thus  solve  any  doubts 
we  had  entertained  of  the  'life  after  death.' 
After  we  had  finished  our  classes  at  college,  G. 
went  to  India,  having  got  an  appointment  there 
in  the  Civil  Service. 

"  He  seldom  wrote  to  me,  and  after  the  lapse  of 
a  few  years  I  had  almost  forgotten  him ;  more- 
over, his  family  having  little  connection  with 
Edinburgh,  I  seldom  saw  or  heard  anything  of 
them,  or  of  him  through  them,  so  that  all  his 
school-boy  intimacy  had  died  out,  and  I  had 
nearly  forgotten  his  existence.  I  had  taken,  as  I 
have  said,  a  warm  bath,  and  while  lying  in  it  and 
enjoying  the  comfort  of  the  heat  after  the  late 
freezing  I  had  undergone,  I  turned  my  head 


HIS  EX  PL  AN  A  T1ON.  275 

round,  looking  towards  the  chair  on  which  I  had 
deposited  my  clothes,  as  I  was  about  to  get  out 
of  the  bath.  On  the  chair  sat  G,  looking  calmly 
at  me. 

"  How  I  got  out  of  the  bath  I  know  not,  but 
on  recovering  my  senses  I  found  myself  sprawling 
on  the  floor.  The  apparition,  or  whatever  it  was 
that  had  taken  the  likeness  of  G.,  had  disappeared. 

"  This  vision  produced  such  a  shock  that  I  had 
no  inclination  to  talk  about  it  even  to  Stewart ; 
but  the  impression  it  made  upon  me  was  too  vivid 
to  be  easily  forgotten ;  and  so  strongly  was  I 
affected  by  it  that  I  have  here  written  down  the 
whole  history,  with  the  date,  iQth  December,  and 
all  the  particulars,  as  they  are  now  fresh  before 
me. 

"  No  doubt  I  had  fallen  asleep  ;  and  that  the 
appearance  presented  so  distinctly  to  my  eyes  was 
a  dream,  I  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt ;  yet  for 
years  I  had  had  no  communication  with  G.,  nor 
had  there  been  anything  to  recall  him  to  my 
recollection ;  nothing  had  taken  place  during  our 
Swedish  travels  either  connected  with  G.  or  with 
India,  or  with  anything  relating  to  him,  or  to  any 
member  of  his  family.  I  could  not  discharge  from 
my  mind  the  impression  that  G.  must  have  died, 
and  that  his  appearance  to  me  was  to  be  received 


276     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

as  a  proof  of  a  future  state  ;  yet  all  the  while  I 
felt  convinced  that  the  whole  was  a  dream  ;  and 
so  painfully  vivid,  so  unfading  the  impression,  that 
I  could  not  bring  myself  to  talk  of  it  or  make  the 
slightest  allusion  to  it." 

In  October,  1862,  Lord  Brougham  added  as  a 
postscript : — 

"  I  have  just  been  copying  out  from  my  journal 
the  account  of  this  strange  dream :  Certissima 
mortis  imago  !  And  now  to  finish  the  story,  be- 
gun about  sixty  years  ago.  Soon  after  my  return 
to  Edinburgh,  there  arrived  a  letter  from  India, 
announcing  G.'s  death,  and  stating  that  he  had 
died  on  the  iQth  of  December! 

"  Singular  coincidence !  Yet,  when  one  reflects 
on  the  vast  number  of  dreams  which  night  after 
night  pass  through  our  brains,  the  number  of 
coincidences  between  the  vision  and  the  event 
are  perhaps  fewer  and  less  remarkable  than  a  fair 
calculation  of  chances  would  warrant  us  to  expect. 
Nor  is  it  surprising,  considering  the  variety  of 
thoughts  in  sleep,  and  that  they  all  bear  some 
analogy  to  the  affairs  of  life,  that  a  dream  should 
sometimes  coincide  with  a  contemporaneous,  or 
even  with  a  future,  event.  This  is  not  much 
more  wonderful  than  that  a  person  whom  we 
have  had  no  reason  to  expect  should  appear  to 


TWO  NOTABLE  PERCIPIENTS.  277 

us  at  the  very  moment  we  have  been  thinking  or 
speaking  of  him.  So  common  is  this,  that  it  has 
for  ages  grown  into  the  proverb,  '  Speak  of  the 
devil.'  I  believe  every  such  seeming  miracle  is, 
like  every  ghost  story,  capable  of  explanation." 

I  have  introduced  in  full  Lord  Brougham's 
statement  of  the  case  and  his  method  of  reason- 
ing upon  it ;  let  us  for  a  moment  analyze  each. 

I  have  also  introduced  Harriet  Hosmer's 
experience  along  with  that  of  Lord  Brougham, 
because  they  are  both  notable  persons  whose 
evidence  regarding  matters  of  fact  could  not  be 
impugned,  and  whose  strength  of  character, 
honesty  of  purpose,  and  knowledge  of  affairs 
enables  us  to  throw  out  of  account  any  idea  of 
imposture  or  self-deception  in  either  case.  These 
cases,  then,  must  be  received  as  having  actually 
occurred  as  related ;  and  being  so  received  they 
render  all  the  more  credible  other  cases  reported 
by  persons  less  well  known. 

What  was  the  character  of  the  apparitions  or 
appearances  which  were  presented  ;  were  they, 
properly  speaking,  dreams?  In  Miss  Hosmer's 
statement  she  stoutly  affirms  that  she  was  awake, 
and  she  gives  good  reasons  for  so  believing, 
namely,  before  she  saw  anything,  but  only  felt 
that  some  one  was  in  the  room,  she  awoke  from  a 


278     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

sound  sleep ;  she  reasoned  with  herself  regarding 
the  possibility  of  any  one  getting  into  the  room ; 
she  called  out :  "  Who's  there  ?  "  She  saw  the 
furniture,  heard  the  clock  strike,  and  counted 
five;  and  in  another  account  which  I  also  have, 
she  heard  the  familiar  noises  about  the  house  of 
servants  at  their  usual  work,  and  she  resolved  to 
get  up.  All  this  before  she  saw  anything  unus- 
ual ;  then  turning  her  head  she  saw  Rosa.  Clearly 
this  was  not  a  dream  but  a  vision  occurring  pos- 
sibly in  a  condition  of  reverie. 

Taking  up  Lord  Brougham's  case :  in  simply 
recording  the  facts  in  his  diary  he  speaks  of  his 
experience  as  a  vision  and  the  idea  that  it  was  a 
dream  was  evidently  an  after-thought.  He  was 
enjoying  the  heat ;  he  was  about  to  get  out  of  the 
bath;  he  turned 'his  head.  He  describes  the  sen- 
sations and  actions  of  a  man  who  is  awake,  or 
certainly  not  in  a  condition  to  have  dreams  dis- 
connected with  his  actual  surroundings.  After 
all  this,  looking  toward  the  chair  upon  which  he 
had  deposited  his  clothes — still  a  part  of  his  sur- 
roundings, of  which  he  was  perfectly  conscious — 
he  saw  G.  on  the  chair  looking  calmly  at  him. 

Now  to  have  dreamt  of  G.,  his  old  school-fellow 
and  friend,  looking  calmly  at  him,  would  not  have 
been  anything  shocking  nor  even  surprising;  it 


LORD  BROUGHAM'S  VIEW  CRITICISED.      279 

would  not  have  been  even  uncommon  among  dreams 
— it  would  have  been  nothing  out  of  the  ordinary 
course  of  nature.  Dreams  seldom  shock  or  even 
surprise  us — surely  not  unless  there  is  something 
intrinsically  shocking  represented  by  them ;  but 
when  we  see  the  phantasm  of  a  person  whom  we 
know  cannot  be  there — that  is  unusual,  that  is 
not  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature,  as  we  are 
accustomed  to  observe  nature,  and  it  surprises  us, 
shocks  us,  perhaps  frightens  us;  but  it  does  so 
because  we  are  awake  and  can  reason  about  it 
and  compare  its  strangeness  with  the  usual  order 
of  things. 

Lord  Brougham  was  awake,  he  did  so  reason, 
and  was  accordingly  shocked. 

So  vivid  was  the  apparition  that  he  tumbled 
out  of  the  bath  and  fainted.  It  is  only  some  time 
after  this,  when  writing  up  his  diary,  that  he  has 
no  doubt  that  he  had  fallen  asleep.  Preconceived 
theories  about  apparitions  now  come  up  in  his 
mind  and  get  him  into  trouble  ;  he  must  explain 
his  vision. 

Now  for  the  explanation.  Lord  Brougham 
finds,  on  returning  to  Scotland,  that  his  former 
friend  is  dead,  and  that  the  time  of  his  death  cor- 
responded with  the  time  at  which  he  had  seen 
his  apparition  in  Sweden,  December 


280     TELE  PA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  Singular  coincidence !  "  That  is  Lord  Broug- 
ham's explanation  ;  and  that  is  the  usual  explana- 
tion ;  but  it  is  ill-considered — it  is  weak — it  does 
not  cover  the  ground. 

Lord  Brougham  had  but  two  theories  from 
which  to  choose  :  namely,  Chance  and  Super- 
naturalism  ;  and  of  the  two  horns  of  the  dilemma 
he  chose  the  easier  one. 

Let  us,  however,  place  ourselves,  for  the  moment, 
on  his  ground,  namely,  that  (i)  It  was  a  dream ; 
and  (2)  dreams  are  so  numerous  that  it  is  not 
surprising  that  some  of  them  coincide  with 
contemporaneous  events. 

Evidently  the  more  numerous  the  coincidences, 
or  the  dreams  which  correspond  to  contempo- 
raneous events,  the  weaker  becomes  the  theory 
of  chance  coincidences.  Supposing,  then,  Lord 
Brougham's  case  to  have  been  unique,  that  not 
another  similar  case  was  known  to  have  occurred, 
then  we  should  have  no  particular  hesitation  in 
assigning  it  to  the  category  of  chance  coinci- 
dences ;  but  even  then  it  would  be  out  of  the 
order  of  usual  coincidences  both  in  interest  and 
the  number  of  separate  points  involved  ;  it  would 
excite  special  interest,  but  the  reference  of  it  to 
chance  would  not  be  considered  unreasonable:  if, 
however,  three  or  four  such  cases  had  been  re- 


COINCIDENCE  THEORY  ABSURD.  281 

ported  and  discussed  in  a  generation,  thoughtful 
people  would  begin  to  inquire  if  there  might  not 
be  some  relation  of  sequence,  or  possibly  of  cause 
and  effect  ;  but  when  hundreds  of  cases  have 
been  reported,  because  they  have  been  system- 
atically sought  for — veridical  dreams  connected 
with  the  moment  of  the  death  of  the  agent,  with 
fainting,  with  trance,  with  moments  of  supreme 
excitement,  or  of  extreme  danger,  so  many  dif- 
ferent conditions  in  which  by  careful  observation 
it  is  found  that  such  hallucinations  and  symbols 
relating  to  actual  contemporaneous  occurrences 
originate  and  are  telepathically  transmitted — the 
matter  is  then  quite  removed  from  the  category 
of  chance  coincidences,  and  any  attempt  to  force 
these  cases  there  to-day  denotes  either  ignorance 
of  established  facts  or  inability  to  appreciate 
logical  reasoning  or  even  mathematical  demon- 
stration. This  is  all  upon  the  supposition  that 
the  case  in  question  was  a  dream.  On  the  other 
hand,  now  place  the  case  where  it  really  belongs 
as  a  waking  or  Borderland  vision — an  event  in  a 
class  a  hundred-fold  less  numerous  than  dreams — 
and  in  which  class  corresponding  events  are  at 
least  tenfold  more  numerous,  and  we  see  how  con- 
spicuously weak  is  the  coincidence  theory. 

Neither  need  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma, 


282     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

namely,  Supernaturalism,  any  longer  be  taken. 
A  newly  recognized  method  of  mental  interaction 
is  gradually  coming  into  view ;  a  new  principle 
and  law  in  psychology  is  being  established ;  and 
under  this  law  the  erratic  and  discredited  facts  of 
history  as  well  as  the  facts  of  present  observation 
and  experiment  are  falling  into  line  and  becom- 
ing intelligible. 

The  new  principle  or  law,  as  we  have  seen,  is 
this :  Perceptions,  of  the  class  which  have  usually 
been  known  as  hallucinations,  may  be  originated 
and  transferred  telepathically ;  in  other  words, 
there  is  a  subliminal  self,  which,  under  various 
conditions  on  the  part  of  either  agent  or  per- 
cipient, or  both,  may  come  to  the  surface  and  act, 
impressing  the  sensitive  percipient  through  the 
senses,  by  dreams,  visions,  and  apparitions,  as  well 
as  through  hallucinations  of  hearing  and  touch. 

Returning  to  our  well  considered  cases  illus- 
trating some  of  these  various  conditions  :  having 
presented  examples  of  veridical  or  truth-telling 
dreams,  and  of  waking  or  borderland  visions  also 
corresponding  to  actual  events  taking  place  at  the 
same  time,  I  will  next  present  cases  where  the 
percipient  was  undoubtedly  awake  and  in  a  normal 
condition.  The  following  case  is  reported  on  the 
authority  of  Surgeon  Harris  of  the  Royal  Artil- 


THE  CHILD'S  VISION.  283 

lery,  who,  with  his  two  daughters,  was  a  witness 
of  the  occurrence  : 

"  A  party  of  children,  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  officers  of  artillery  stationed  at  Woolwich, 
were  playing  in  the  garden.  Suddenly  a  little 
girl  screamed,  and  stood  staring  with  an  aspect  of 
terror  at  a  willow  tree  standing  in  the  grounds. 
Her  companions  gathered  round,  asking  what 
ailed  her.  '  Oh  ! '  said  she,  '  there — there.  Don't 
you  see  ?  There's  papa  lying  on  the  ground,  and 
the  blood  running  from  a  big  wound/  All  assured 
her  that  they  could  see  nothing  of  the  kind.  But 
she  persisted,  describing  the  wound  and  the  posi- 
tion of  the  body,  still  expressing  surprise  that 
they  did  not  see  what  she  so  plainly  saw.  Two 
of  her  companions  were  daughters  of  one  of  the 
surgeons  of  the  regiment,  whose  house  adjoined 
the  garden.  They  called  their  father,  who  at  once 
came  to  the  spot.  He  found  the  child  in  a  state 
of  extreme  terror  and  agony,  took  her  into  his 
house,  assured  her  it  was  only  a  fancy,  and  having 
given  her  restoratives  sent  her  home.  The  inci- 
dent was  treated  by  all  as  what  the  doctor 
had  called  it,  a  fancy,  and  no  more  was  thought 
of  it.  News  from  India,  where  the  child's  father 
was  stationed,  was  in  those  days  slow  in  coming, 
but  the  arrival  of  the  mail  in  due  course  brought 


284     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

the  information  that  the  father  of  the  child  had 
been  killed  by  a  shot,  and  died  under  a  tree. 
Making  allowances  for  difference  in  time,  it  was 
found  to  have  been  about  the  moment  when  the 
daughter  had  the  vision  at  Woolwich." 

The  next  case  is  from  Mr.  Francis  Dart  Fenton, 
formerly  in  the  native  department  of  the  Govern- 
ment, Auckland,  New  Zealand.  In  1852,  when 
the  incident  occurred,  Mr.  Fenton  was  engaged 
in  forming  a  settlement  on  the  banks  of  the 
Waikato. 

He  writes : — 

"March  2$th,  1860. 

"  Two  sawyers,  Frank  Philps  and  Jack  Mul- 
holland,  were  engaged  cutting  timber  for  the  Rev. 
R.  Maunsell,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Awaroa  Creek, 
a  very  lonely  place,  a  vast  swamp,  no  people  with- 
in miles  of  them.  As  usual,  they  had  a  Maori 
with  them  to  assist  in  felling  trees.  He  came 
from  Tihorewam,  a  village  on  the  other  side  of 
the  river,  about  six  miles  off.  As  Frank  and  the 
native  were  cross-cutting  a  tree,  the  native  stopped 
suddenly  and  said,  '  What  are  you  come  for  ? ' 
looking  in  the  direction  of  Frank.  Frank  replied, 
'  What  do  you  mean  ? '  He  said,  '  I  am  not 
speaking  to  you  ;  I  am  speaking  to  my  brother.' 
Frank  said,  '  Where  is  he  ? '  The  native  replied, 


THE  MAORI  WAS  RIGHT.  285 

'  Behind  you.  What  do  you  want  ? '  (to  the 
other  Maori).  Frank  looked  round  and  saw 
nobody  ;  the  native  no  longer  saw  any  one,  but 
laid  down  the  saw  and  said,  '  I  shall  go  across  the 
river ;  my  brother  is  dead.'  Frank  laughed  at 
him,  and  reminded  him  that  he  had  left  him  quite 
well  on  Sunday  (five  days  before),  and  there  had 
been  no  communication  since.  The  Maori  spoke 
no  more,  but  got  into  his  canoe  and  pulled  across. 
When  he  arrived  at  the  landing-place,  he  met 
people  coming  to  fetch  him.  His  brother  had 
just  died.  I  knew  him  well." 

In  answer  to  inquiries  as  to  his  authority  for 
this  narrative,  Mr.  Fenton  writes  the  editors  of 
Phantasms  of  the  Living : — 

"  December  i8th,  1883. 

"  I  knew  all  the  parties  well,  and  it  is  quite 
true.  Incidents  of  this  sort  are  not  infrequent 

among  the  Maoris. 

"  F.  D.  FENTON, 

"  Late  Chief  Judge,  Native  Law  Court  of  New 
Zealand." 

The  following  case  was  first  published  in  the 
Spiritual  Magazine  in  1861,  by  Robert  H.  Collyer, 
M.  D.,  F.  C.  S. 

Although  published  in  a  spiritual  publication, 
Dr.  Collyer  states  that  he  himself  is  not  a  believer 


286     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

in  spiritualism,  but,  on  the  contrary,  is  a  material- 
ist and  has  been  for  forty  years. 

He  writes  from  Beta  House,  8  Alpha  Road,  St. 
John's  Wood,  N.  W.  :- 

"April  1 5th,  1861. 

"  On  January  3d,  1856,  my  brother  Joseph 
being  in  command  of  the  steamer  Alice,  on  the 
Mississippi,  just  above  New  Orleans,  she  came 
in  collision  with  another  steamer.  The  concus- 
sion caused  the  flagstaff  or  pole  to  fall  with  great 
violence,  which  coming  in  contact  with  my 
brother's  head,  actually  divided  the  skull,  causing 
of  necessity  instant  death.  In  October,  1857, 
I  visited  the  United  States.  When  at  my  father's 
residence,  Camden,  New  Jersey,  the  melancholy 
death  of  my  brother  became  the  subject  of  con- 
versation, and  my  mother  narrated  to  me  that  at 
the  very  time  of  the  accident  the  apparition  of 
my  brother  Joseph  was  presented  to  her.  This 
fact  was  corroborated  by  my  father  and  four 
sisters.  Camden,  N.  J.,  is  distant  from  the  scene 
of  the  accident,  in  a  direct  line,  over  one  thousand 
miles.  My  mother  mentioned  the  fact  of  the  ap- 
parition on  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  January  to 
my  father  and  sisters  ;  nor  was  it  until  the  i6th, 
or  thirteen  days  after,  that  a  letter  was  received 
confirming  in  every  particular  the  extraordinary 


SEEN  A   THOUSAND  MILES  AWAY.          287 

visitation.  It  will  be  important  to  mention  that 
my  brother  William  and  his  wife  lived  near  the 
locality  of  the  dreadful  accident,  and  are  now 
living  in  Philadelphia ;  they  have  also  corrobo- 
rated to  me  the  details  of  the  impression  produced 
upon  my  mother." 

Dr.  Collyer  then  quotes  a  letter  from  his  mother 
which  contains  the  following  sentences  : — 

"CAMDEN,  N.  J.,  UNITED  STATES, 

"  March  2;th,  1861. 

"  MY.  BELOVED  SON, — On  the  3d  of  January, 
1856,  I  did  not  feel  well  and  retired  early  to  bed. 
Some  time  after  I  felt  uneasy  and  sat  up  in  bed  ;  I 
looked  around  the  room,  and  to  my  utter  amaze- 
ment, saw  Joseph  standing  at  the  door  looking  at 
me  with  great  earnestness ;  his  head  was  bandaged 
up,  a  dirty  night-cap  on,  and  a  dirty  white  garment, 
something  like  a  surplice.  He  was  much  disfigured 
about  the  eyes  and  face.  It  made  me  quite  un- 
comfortable the  rest  of  the  night.  The  next  morn- 
ing Mary  came  into  my  room  early.  I  told  her  I 
was  sure  I  was  going  to  have  bad  news  from 
Joseph.  I  told  all  the  family  at  the  breakfast 
table.  They  replied,  '  It  was  only  a  dream  and 
nonsense  ; '  but  that  did  not  change  my  opinion. 
It  preyed  on  my  mind,  and  on  the  i6th  of  January 
I  received  the  news  of  his  death  ;  and  singular  to 


288     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

say  both  William  and  his  wife,  who  were  there,  say 
that  he  was  exactly  attired  as  I  saw  him. 
"  Your  ever  affectionate  mother, 

"ANNE   E.   COLLYER." 

In  reply  to  questions,  Dr  Collyer  wrote  :  "  My 
father,  who  was  a  scientific  man,  calculated  the 
difference  of  longitude  between  Camden  and 
New  Orleans  and  found  that  the  mental  impression 
was  at  the  exact  time  of  my  brother's  death.  .  .  . 

"  In  the  published  account  I  omitted  to  state 
that  my  brother  Joseph,  prior  to  his  death,  had 
retired  for  the  night  in  his  berth  ;  his  vessel  was 
moored  alongside  the  levee,  at  the  time  of  the 
collision  by  another  steamer  coming  down  the 
Mississippi.  Of  course  my  brother  was  in  his 
nightgown.  He  ran  on  deck  on  being  called  and 
informed  that  a  steamer  was  in  close  proximity  to 
his  own.  These  circumstances  were  communicated 
to  me  by  my  brother  William,  who  was  on  the 
spot  at  the  time  of  the  accident." 

In  addition  to  these  accounts,  Mr.  Podmore 
says : — 

"  I  called  upon  Dr.  Collyer  on  March  25th,  1884. 
He  told  me  that  he  received  a  full  account  of  the 
story  verbally  from  his  father,  mother,  and  brother 
in  1857.  .  .  .  He  was  quite  certain  of  the  precise 
coincidence  of  time." 


AT  A  MOMENT  OF  PERIL.  289 

A  sister  also  writes  corroborating  all  the  main 
statements. 

Other  senses  besides  that  of  sight  may  receive 
the  telepathic  impression.  In  the  following  cases 
the  sense  of  hearing  was  so  impressed.  The  first 
account  is  from  Commander  T.  W.  Aylesbury, 
late  of  the  Indian  Navy.  It  is  from  Mr.  Gurney's 
collection  in  Phantasms  of  the  Living. 

"  The  writer  when  thirteen  years  of  age  was  cap- 
sized in  a  boat  when  landing  on  the  Island  of  Bally, 
east  of  Java,  and  was  nearly  drowned.  On  coming 
to  the  surface  after  being  repeatedly  submerged, 
the  boy  called  out  for  his  mother.  This  amused  the 
boat's  crew,  who  spoke  of  it  afterwards  and  jeered 
him  a  good  deal  about  it.  Months  after,  on  arrival 
in  England,  the  boy  went  to  his  home,  and  while 
telling  his  mother  of  his  narrow  escape  he  said, 
'  While  I  was  under  the  water  I  saw  you  all  sitting 
in  this  room  ;  you  were  working  on  something 
white.  I  saw  you  all — mother,  Emily,  Eliza,  and 
Ellen.'  His  mother  at  once  said,  '  Why,  yes,  and 
I  heard  you  cry  out  for  me,  and  I  sent  Emily  to 
look  out  of  the  window,  for  I  remarked  that  some- 
thing had  happened  to  that  poor  boy.'  The  time, 
owing  to  the  difference  in  longitude,  corresponded 
with  the  time  when  the  voice  was  heard." 

Commander  Aylesbury  adds  in  another  letter : 
T9 


290    TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  I  saw  their  features  (my  mother's  and  sisters'), 
the  room  and  the  furniture,  and  particularly  the 
old-fashioned  Venetian  blinds.  My  eldest  sister 
was  seated  next  to  my  mother." 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written 
to  Commander  Aylesbury  by  one  of  his  sisters  and 
forwarded  to  Mr.  Gurney,  in  1883: — 

"  I  distinctly  remember  the  incident  you  men- 
tion in  your  letter  (the  voice  calling  '  Mother  ')  ; 
it  made  such  an  impression  upon  my  mind  I  shall 
never  forget  it.  We  were  all  sitting  quietly  at 
work  one  evening ;  it  was  about  nine  o'clock.  I 
think  it  must  have  been  late  in  the  summer,  as  we 
had  left  the  street  door  open.  We  first  heard  a 
faint  cry  of  '  Mother '  ;  we  all  looked  up  and  said 
to  one  another,  '  Did  you  hear  that  ?  some  one 
cried  out  "  Mother."  '  We  had  scarcely  finished 
speaking  when  the  voice  again  called  '  Mother ' 
twice  in  quick  succession,  the  last  cry  a  frightened, 
agonizing  cry.  We  all  started  up  and  mother 
said  to  me,  '  Go  to  the  door  and  see  what  is  the 
matter.'  I  ran  directly  into  the  street  and  stood 
some  few  minutes,  but  all  was  silent,  and  not  a 
person  to  be  seen  ;  it  was  a  lovely  evening,  not  a 
breath  of  air.  Mother  was  sadly  upset  about  it. 
I  remember  she  paced  the  room  and  feared  some- 
thing had  happened  to  you.  She  wrote  down  the 


SEEN,  HEARD  AND  FELT.  29! 

date  the  next  day,  and  when  you  came  home  and 
told  us  how  nearly  you  had  been  drowned,  and 
the  time  of  day,  father  said  it  would  be  about  the 
time  nine  o'clock  would  be  with  us.  I  know  the 
date  and  the  time  corresponded." 

In  the  next  case  three  of  the  senses — sight, 
hearing,  and  touch  were  concerned.  It  is  from 
Mr.  Gurney's  collection. 

"  From    Mr.  Algeron   Joy,   20  Walton    Place, 

S.  W. 

"  Aug.  i6th,  1883. 

"About  1862  I  was  walking  in  a  country 
lane  near  Cardiff  by  myself,  when  I  was  over- 
taken by  two  young  colliers  who  suddenly 
attacked  me.  One  of  them  gave  me  a  violent 
blow  on  the  eye  which  knocked  me  down,  half- 
stunned.  I  distinctly  remembered  afterwards  all 
that  I  had  been  thinking  about,  both  immediately 
prior  to  the  attack  and  for  some  time  after  it. 

Up  to  the  moment  of  the  attack  and  for  some 
time  previously,  I  was  absorbed  in  a  calculation 
connected  with  Penarth  Docks,  then  in  construc- 
tion, on  which  I  was  employed.  My  train  of 
thought  was  interrupted  for  a  moment  by  the 
sound  of  footsteps  behind  me.  I  looked  back  and 
saw  the  two  young  men,  but  thought  no  more 


292      TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

of  them,  and  immediately  returned  to  my  calcula- 
tions. 

"  On  receiving  the  blow,  I  began  speculating  on 
their  object,  what  they  were  going  to  do  next, 
how  I  could  best  defend  myself,  or  escape  from 
them  ;  and  when  they  ran  away,  and  I  had  picked 
myself  up  I  thought  of  trying  to  identify  them 
and  of  denouncing  them  at  the  police  station,  to 
which  I  proceeded  after  following  them  until  I 
lost  sight  of  them. 

"  In  short,  I  am  positive  that  for  about  half  an 
hour  previous  to  the  attack,  and  for  an  hour  or 
two  after  it,  there  was  no  connection  whatever, 
direct  or  indirect,  between  my  thoughts  and  a 
person  at  that  moment  in  London,  and  whom  I 
will  call 'A.' 

"  Two  days  afterwards,  I  received  a  letter  from 
'  A,'  written  on  the  day  after  the  assault,  asking 
me  what  I  had  been  doing  and  thinking  about  at 
4  :  30  P.  M.,  on  the  day  previous  to  that  on 
which  he  was  writing.  He  continued :  '  I  had 
just  passed  your  club  and  was  thinking  of  you, 
when  I  recognized  your  footstep  behind  me. 
You  laid  your  hand  heavily  on  my  shoulder.  I 
turned,  and  saw  you  as  distinctly  as  I  ever  saw 
you  in  my  life.  You  looked  distressed,  and  in 
answer  to  my  greeting  and  inquiry,  '  What's  the 


COLLECTIVE  CASES.  293 

matter  ?  '  You  said,  '  Go  home,  old  fellow,  I've 
been  hurt.  You  will  get  a  letter  from  me  in  the 
morning,  telling  you  all  about  it.'  You  then 
vanished  instantaneously. 

"  The  assault  took  place  as  near  4 :  30  as  pos- 
sible, certainly  between  4:15  and  4  :  45.  I  wrote 
an  account  of  it  to  'A'  on  the  following  day,  so 
our  letters  crossed,  he  receiving  mine,  not  the  next 
morning  as  my  double  had  promised,  but  on  the 
succeeding  one  at  about  the  same  time  as  I  re- 
ceived his.  '  A'  solemnly  assured  me  that  he  knew 
no  one  in  or  near  Cardiff,  and  that  my  account 
was  the  only  one  he  had  received  of  the  incident. 
From  my  intimate  personal  knowledge  of  him  I 
am  certain  that  he  is  incapable  of  uttering  an  un- 
truth. But  there  are  reasons  why  I  cannot  give 
his  name  even  in  confidence. 

"ALGERON  JOY." 

Apparitions  are  perhaps  more  frequently  seen 
by  a  single  percipient ;  there  are,  however,  numer- 
ous well  authenticated  cases  where  they  have  been 
seen  by  several  persons  at  the  same  time,  some- 
times by  the  whole  and  sometimes  only  by  a  part 
of  the  persons  present. 

Such  cases  are  called  collective.  Here  are  two 
such  cases  reported  to  Mr.  Gurney  by  physicians. 


294     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

First,  one  from  Dr.  Wyld,  41  Courtfield  Road, 
S.  W. 

"December,  1882. 

"  Miss  L.  and  her  mother  were  for  fifteen  years 
my  most  intimate  friends ;  they  were  ladies  of  the 
highest  intelligence  and  perfectly  truthful,  and 
their  story  was  confirmed  by  one  of  the  servants, 
the  other  I  could  not  trace. 

"  Miss  L.,  some  years  before  I  made  her  ac- 
quaintance, occupied  much  of  her  time  in  visiting 
the  poor.  One  day  as  she  walked  homewards  she 
felt  cold  and  tired  and  longed  to  be  at  home 
warming  herself  at  the  kitchen  fire.  At  or  about 
the  minute  corresponding  to  this  wish,  the  two 
servants  being  in  the  kitchen,  the  door-handle  was 
seen  to  turn,  the  door  opened,  and  in  walked  Miss 
L.,  and  going  up  to  the  fire  she  held  out  her  hands 
and  warmed  herself,  and  the  servants  saw  she  had 
a  pair  of  green  kid  gloves  on  her  hands.  She  sud- 
denly disappeared  before  their  eyes,  and  the  two 
servants  in  great  alarm  went  upstairs  and  told  the 
mother  what  they  had  seen,  including  the  green 
kid  gloves.  The  mother  feared  something  was 
wrong,  but  she  attempted  to  quiet  the  servants 
by  reminding  them  that  Miss  L.  always  wore  black 
and  never  green  gloves,  and  that  therefore  the 
'  ghost '  could  not  have  been  that  of  her  daughter. 


SEEN  BY  FOUR  PERSONS.  295 

"In  about  half  an  hour  the  veritable  Miss  L. 
entered  the  house,  and  going  into  the  kitchen 
warmed  herself  at  the  fire  ;  and  she  had  on  a  pair 
of  green  kid  gloves  which  she  had  bought  on  her 
way  home,  not  being  able  to  get  a  suitable  black 

pair. 

"  G.  WYLD,  M.  D." 

The  next  case  is  from  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Buchanan, 
12  Rutland  Square,  Edinburgh. 

He  writes  : — 

"  The  following  circumstance  took  place  at  a 
villa  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  Glasgow, 
and  was  told  me  by  my  wife.  Of  its  truth  I  am 
as  certain  as  if  I  had  been  a  witness.  The  house 
had  a  lawn  in  front  of  about  three  or  four  acres 
in  extent,  with  a  lodge  at  the  gateway  distinctly 
seen  from  the  house,  which  was  about  eighty  yards' 
distant.  Two  of  the  family  were  going  to  visit  a 
friend  seven  miles'  distant,  and  on  the  previous 
day  it  had  been  arranged  to  take  a  lady,  Miss  W., 
with  them,  who  was  to  be  in  waiting  at  a  place 
about  a  mile  distant.  Three  of  the  family  and  a 
lady  visitor  were  standing  at  one  of  the  dining- 
room  windows  waiting  for  the  carriage,  when 
they,  including  my  wife,  saw  Miss  W.  open  the 
gate  at  the  lodge.  The  wind  had  disarranged  the 
front  of  a  pelisse  which  she  wore,  which  they 


296     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

distinctly  saw  her  adjust.  She  wore  a  light  gray- 
colored  beaver  hat,  and  had  a  handkerchief  at  her 
mouth  ;  it  was  supposed  she  was  suffering  from 
toothache  to  which  she  was  subject.  She  entered 
the  lodge  to  the  surprise  of  her  friends,  and  as  she 
did  not  leave  it,  a  servant  was  sent  to  ask  her  to 
join  the  family  ;  but  she  was  informed  that  Miss 
W.  had  not  been  there,  and  it  was  afterwards 
ascertained  that  no  one  except  the  woman's  hus- 
band had  been  in  the  lodge  that  morning. 

"  The  carriage  arrived  at  the  house  about  ten 
A.  M.,  and  Miss  W.  was  found  at  the  place  agreed 
upon,  in  the  dress  in  which  she  appeared  at  the 
lodge,  and  suffering  from  toothache.  As  she  was 
a  nervous  person,  nothing  was  said  to  her  about 
her  appearance  at  the  gate.  She  died  nine  years 
afterwards." 

Sometimes  an  apparition  seemingly  intended 
for  one  person  is  not  perceived  by  that  person,  but 
is  seen  by  some  other  person  present  who  may  be  a 
stranger  to  the  agent  or  person  whose  image  is 
seen.  The  following  case  is  in  point.  It  is  from 
Mrs.  Clerke,  of  Clifton  Lodge,  Farquhar  Road, 
Upper  Norwood,  S.  E.,  and  also  belongs  to  Mr. 
Gurney's  collection  : — 

"  In  the  month  of  August,  1864,  about  three  or 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  sitting  reading 


PERCEIVED  BY  A  STRANGER.  297 

in  the  verandah  of  our  house  in  Barbadoes.  My 
black  nurse  was  driving  my  little  girl,  about 
eighteen  months  or  so  old,  in  her  perambulator  in 
the  garden.  I  got  up  after  some  time  to  go  into 
the  house,  not  having  noticed  anything  at  all, 
when  this  black  woman  said  to  me,  '  Missis,  who 
was  that  gentleman  that  was  talking  to  you  just 
now?'  'There  was  no  one  talking  to  me,'  I  said. 
'  Oh,  yes,  dere  was,  Missis — a  very  pale  gentleman, 
very  tall,  and  he  talked  to  you  and  you  was  very 
rude,  for  you  never  answered  him.'  I  repeated 
there  was  no  one,  and  got  rather  cross  with  the 
woman,  and  she  begged  me  to  write  down  the  day, 
for  she  knew  she  had  seen  some  one.  I  did,  and 
in  a  few  days  I  heard  of  the  death  of  my  brother 
in  Tobago.  Now  the  curious  part  is  this,  that 
I  did  not  see  him,  but  she — a  stranger  to  him — did  ; 
and  she  said  that  he  seemed  very  anxious  for  me 
to  notice  him. 

"  MAY  CLERKE." 

In  answer  to  inquiries  Mrs.  Clerke  says  : — 

"  (i)  The  day  of  the  death  was  the  same,  for  I 

wrote  it  down.     I  think  it  was  the  third  of  August, 

but  I  know  it  was  the  same. 

"  (2)  The  description  '  very  tall  and  pale '  was 

accurate. 


298     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

"  (3)  I  had  no  idea  he  was  ill.  He  was  only  a 
few  days  ill. 

"  (4)  The  woman  had  never  seen  him.  She  had 
been  with  me  about  eighteen  months  and  I  con- 
sidered her  truthful.  She  had  no  object  in  telling 
me." 

Her  husband,  Colonel  Clerke,  corroborates  as 
follows : — 

"  I  well  remember  that  on  the  day  on  which  Mr. 
John  Brersford,  my  wife's  brother,  died  in  Tobago 
— after  a  short  illness  of  which  we  were  not  aware 
— our  black  nurse  declared  she  saw,  at  as  nearly 
as  possible  the  time  of  his  death,  a  gentleman 
exactly  answering  to  Mr.  Brersford's  description, 
leaning  over  the  back  of  Mrs.  Clerke's  easy-chair 
in  the  open  verandah.  The  figure  was  not  seen 

by  any  one  else. 

"  SHADWELL  H.  CLERKE." 

In  this  instance,  looking  upon  the  dying  brother 
as  the  agent  and  the  sister  as  the  intended  per- 
cipient, the  question  arises,  why  was  she  unable  to 
perceive  the  telepathic  influence  which  presented 
the  likeness  of  her  brother,  while  the  colored  nurse, 
an  entire  stranger  to  him,  sees  and  describes  him 
standing  by  his  sister's  chair  and  apparently 
anxious  that  she  should  recognize  him  ? 

In  another  of  Mr.  Gurney's  cases,  of  four  persons 


REV.  MR.  ff'S  PHANTASM.  299 

present  in  a  business  office  where  the  phantasm  of 
a  fifth  well-known  person  appeared,  two  persons 
saw  the  phantasm  and  two  did  not. 

Abridged  from  Mr.  Gurney's  account  the  cir- 
cumstances were  as  follows  : — 

The  narrator  is  Mr.  R.  Mouat,  of  60  Hunting- 
don St.,  Barnsbury,  N.,  and  the  incident  occurred 
in  his  office  on  Thursday,  September  5th,  1867. 
The  persons  concerned  were  the  Rev.  Mr.  H.,  who 
had  a  desk  in  the  same  office  and  who  may  be 
considered  the  agent ;  Mr.  Mouat,  himself,  and  Mr. 
R.,  a  gentleman  from  an  office  upstairs  in  the  same 
building,  the  percipients ;  while  a  clerk  and  a 
porter  who  were  also  present  saw  nothing. 

Mr.  Mouat  goes  into  his  office  at  10:45  o'clock 
on  the  morning  of  September  5th,  sees  his  clerk 
and  the  porter  in  conversation,  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
H.  standing  at  the  corner  of  a  table  at  the  back 
of  the  clerk.  He  is  about  to  speak  to  Mr.  H. 
about  his  being  there  so  early  (more  than  an  hour 
before  his  usual  time),  when  the  clerk  com- 
menced speaking  to  him  about  business  and 
especially  a  telegram  concerning  which  something 
was  amiss.  This  conversation  lasted  several 
minutes  and  was  decidedly  animated.  During 
this  scene,  Mr.  R.,  from  an  office  upstairs,  comes  in 
and  listens  to  the  excited  conversation.  He  looks 


300     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

at  Mr.  H.  in  a  comical  way,  motioning  with  his 
head  toward  the  two  disputants,  as  much  as  to  say 
"  they  are  having  it  hot ;  "  but  to  Mr.  R.'s  disgust 
Mr.  H.  does  not  respond  to  the  joke.  Mr.  R.  and 
the  porter  then  leave  the  room.  Mr.  Mouat  turns 
to  Mr.  H.,  who  was  all  the  while  standing  at  the 
corner  of  the  table,  notices  that  he  looks  down- 
cast, and  is  without  his  neck-tie  ;  he  says  to  him, 
"  Well,  what  is  the  matter  with  you,  you  look  so 
sour?"  Mr.  H.  makes  no  reply,  but  looks  fixedly 
at  Mr.  Mouat.  Having  finished  some  papers  he 
was  reading  Mr.  Mouat  noticed  Mr.  H.  still  stand- 
ing at  the  table.  The  clerk  at  that  moment 
handed  Mr.  Mouat  a  letter  saying,  "  Here,  sir,  is 
a  letter  from  Mr.  H." 

No  sooner  was  the  name  pronounced  than  Mr. 
H.  disappeared  in  a  second. 

Mr.  Mouat  is  dumfounded — so  much  so  that 
the  clerk  notices  it.  It  is  then  discovered  that  the 
clerk  has  not  seen  Mr.  H.  at  all,  and  declares  that 
he  has  not  been  in  the  office  that  morning.  The 
letter  from  Mr.  H.  was  written  on  the  previous 
day  and  informs  Mr.  Mouat  that  he  is  ill,  and 
will  not  be  at  the  office  the  next  day,  and  asks  to 
have  his  letters  sent  to  his  house. 

The  next  day,  Friday,  Mr.  H.  enters  the  office  at 
his  usual  hour,  twelve  o'clock  ;  and  on  being  asked 


SKEW  BY  S OME,  UNSEEN  BY  O THERS.       301 

by  Mr.  Mouat  where  he  was  the  previous  day  at 
10 : 45  o'clock,  he  replied  that  at  that  time  he  had 
just  finished  breakfast — was  at  home  with  his  wife, 
and  did  not  leave  the  house  all  day. 

The  following  Monday  Mr.  Mouat  meets  Mr. 
R.  and  asks  him  if  he  remembers  being  in  his 
office  the  previous  Thursday  morning.  R.  replies 
that  he  does,  perfectly.  Does  he  remember  who 
were  present  and  what  was  going  on  ?  "  Yes,"  said 
Mr.  R.,  "  you  were  having  an  animated  confab  with 
your  clerk  about  a  telegram.  Besides  yourself 
and  the  clerk  there  were  present  the  porter  and 
Mr.  H." 

On  being  informed  that  Mr.  H.  was  at  home, 
fourteen  miles'  distant,  at  that  time,  Mr.  R.  became 
indignant  that  any  one  should  insinuate  that  he 
did  not  know  a  man  was  present  when  he  saw 
him.  He  insisted  on  calling  the  porter  to  corrob- 
orate him  ;  but  on  being  questioned,  the  porter, 
like  the  clerk,  declared  that  he  did  not  see  any- 
thing of  Mr.  H.  that  morning. 

Here,  in  broad  daylight,  of  four  persons  present 
and  engaged  in  business,  two  saw  Mr.  H.  and  ad- 
dressed him  either  in  words  or  by  signs,  while  two 
others  with  equal  opportunities  did  not  see  him 
at  all. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  H.  at  home  during  the  time  had 


302     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

no  particular  experience  of  any  kind.  All  that 
can  be  said  is,  that,  it  must  have  been  about  his 
usual  time  for  starting  for  the  office ;  he  had  sent 
a  letter  about  his  mail  which  he  knew  would  then 
be  received,  and  all  the  general  routine  and  habit 
of  his  life  would  tend  to  direct  his  mind  to  that 
locality  at  that  particular  time.  He  was  ill  as  he 
appeared  to  be  to  those  who  saw  his  appearance 
at  the  office,  and  very  likely  he  was  negligently 
dressed. 

Why  should  two  of  those  present  have  seen 
his  apparition,  and  two  others  have  failed  to  see  it  ? 
For  the  simple  reason  that,  as  in  ordinary  thought- 
transference,  or  in  the  "  willing  game  "  some  are 
good  subjects,  or  percipients,  and  others  are  not. 
For  the  same  reason  that  of  ten  persons  making 
trial  of  Planchette-writing,  the  board  will  move  for 
only  two  or  three  out  of  the  whole  number — that 
is,  in  only  a  few  would  the  hands  act  automat- 
ically in  response  to  a  subliminal  self ;  and  for 
the  same  reason  it  may  also  be  true  that  amongst 
several  persons,  in  only  a  few  of  those  present, 
can  the  sense  of  sight  or  hearing  be  effected  by 
a  phantasm. 

In  many  instances,  children,  and  in  some  in- 
stances, very  young  children,  have  been  the  per- 
cipients— children  too  young  to  perceive  any 


ANIMALS  PERCEIVE  PHANTASMS.          303 

difference  between  the  phantasm  and  a  real  per- 
son, and  who  have  accordingly  addressed  it  and 
spoken  of  it  as  they  would  of  a  real  person. 
Even  animals,  especially  horses  and  dogs,  have 
given  unmistakable  evidence — by  crouching,  trem- 
bling, and  fright — of  perceiving  the  same  phan- 
tasms that  have  been  seen  by  persons  who  were 
present  with  them.  The  phantom  being,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  air,  it  is  perceived  by  those  whose 
organization  is  so  adjusted  as  to  make  it  impres- 
sionable, and  to  constitute,  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  what  is  known  as  a  sensitive. 

Doubtless,  on  close  examination,  it  would  be 
found  that  persons  capable  of  hypnotization, 
though  they  may  never  have  been  hypnotized, 
natural  somnambulists,  persons  accustomed  to 
vivid  dreaming,  reverie,  abstraction,  and  kindred 
states,  in  other  words,  persons  in  whom  the  sublim- 
inal self  sometimes  gives  indications  of  independ- 
ent action,  are  most  likely  to  have  some  marked 
psychical  experience.  It  may  be  only  once  in  a 
lifetime,  and  this  one  instance  may  be  the  percep- 
tion of  a  phantasmal  appearance. 

In  bringing  to  a  close  these  examples  of  ap- 
paritions, I  wish  to  introduce  one  which  has 
specially  impressed  me.  It  was  the  experience 
of  a  child — it  is  reported  by  the  percipient  her- 


304     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

self.  The  statement  is  singularly  straightforward, 
and  simple ;  something  was  done  on  account  of 
the  vision  which  impressed  the  circumstance  upon 
others  who  did  not  see  it,  for  prompt  action 
founded  upon  what  was  seen,  saved  a  life.  I 
give  it  in  the  percipient's  own  words,  written  to 
Mr.  Gurney.  It  is  from  Mrs.  Brettany,  2  Ecking- 
ton  Villas,  Ashbourne  Grove,  Dulwich. 

She  writes  : — 

"  November,  1884. 

"  When  I  was  a  child  I  had  many  remarkable 
experiences  of  a  psychical  nature,  and  which  I 
remember  to  have  looked  upon  as  ordinary  and 
natural  at  the  time. 

"  On  one  occasion  (I  am  unable  to  fix  the  date, 
but  I  must  have  been  about  ten  years  old)  I  was 
walking  in  a  country  lane  at  A.,  the  place  where 
my  parents  then  resided.  I  was  reading  geometry 
as  I  walked  along,  a  subject  little  likely  to  pro- 
duce fancies,  or  morbid  phenomena  of  any  kind, 
when,  in  a  moment,  I  saw  a  bedroom,  known  as 
the  White  Room  in  my  home,  and  upon  the  floor 
lay  my  mother,  to  all  appearances  dead. 

"  The  vision  must  have  remained  some  min- 
utes, during  which  time  my  real  surroundings 
appeared  to  pale  and  die  out ;  but  as  the  vision 
faded  actual  surroundings  came  back,  at  first 


SA  VED  HER  MOTHERS  LIFE.  305 

dimly,  and  then  clearly.  I  could  not  doubt  that 
what  I  had  seen  was  real.  So  instead  of  going 
home,  I  went  at  once  to  the  house  of  our  medical 
man,  and  found  him  at  home.  He  at  once  set 
out  with  me  for  my  home,  on  the  way  putting 
questions  I  could  not  answer,  as  my  mother  was 
to  all  appearances  well  when  I  left  home. 

"  I  led  the  doctor  straight  to  the  White  Room, 
where  we  found  my  mother  actually  lying  as  in 
my  vision.  This  was  true,  even  to  minute  details. 

"  She  had  been  seized  suddenly  by  an  attack 
of  the  heart,  and  would  soon  have  breathed  her 
last  but  for  the  doctor's  timely  arrival.     I  shall  get 
my  father  and  mother  to  read  this  and  sign  it." 
"  JEANIE  GWYNNE-BRETTANY." 

Mrs.  Brettany's  parents  write  : — 

"  We  certify  that  the  above  is  correct." 

"  S.  G.  GWYNNE. 

"  J.  W.  GWYNNE." 

In  answer  to  inquiries,  Mrs.  Brettany  states 
further : 

"  The  White  Room  in  which  I  saw  my  mother, 
and  afterwards  actually  found  her,  was  out  of 
use.  It  was  unlikely  she  should  be  there. 

"  She  was  found  lying  in  the  attitude  in  which 

I  had  seen  her.     I  found  a  handkerchief  with  a 
20 


306     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

lace  border  beside  her  on  the  floor.  This  I  had 
distinctly  noticed  in  my  vision.  There  were 
other  particulars  of  coincidence  which  I  cannot 
put  here." 

Mrs.  Brettany's  father  writes  further  : — 
"  I  distinctly  remember  being  surprised  by  see- 
ing my  daughter  in  company  with  the  family 
doctor,  outside  the  door  of  my  residence  ;  and  I 
asked, 'Who  is  ill?'  She  replied,  'Mamma.' 
She  led  the  way  at  once  to  the  '  White  Room,' 
where  we  found  my  wife  lying  in  a  swoon  on  the 
floor.  It  was  when  I  asked  when  she  had  been 
taken  ill  that  I  found  it  must  have  been  after  my 
daughter  had  left  the  house.  None  of  the  serv- 
ants in  the  house  knew  anything  of  the  sudden 
illness,  which  our  doctor  assured  me  would  have 
been  fatal  had  he  not  arrived  when  he  did. 

"  My  wife  was  quite  well  when  I  left  her  in  the 

morning." 

"  S.  G.  GWYNNE." 

Taking,  as  we  must,  the  main  incidents  of  this 
narrative  as  true,  we  have  either  a  simple  case  of 
clairvoyance  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Brettany  as  a 
child,  or  else,  on  the  other  hand,  the  subliminal 
self  of  the  unconscious  mother  hastened  to  im- 
press the  situation  upon  the  sensitive  child,  and 
with  the  definite  good  result  which  is  recorded. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

IN  gathering  up  the  results  of  these  investiga- 
tions, it  must  be  stated  that  in  showing  their 
relation  to  science  there  is  no  thought  of  any 
detraction  from  the  nobility  and  greatness  of 
scientific  labor  and  achievement  in  the  material 
world — that  is  grand  almost  beyond  expression. 
The  attitude  of  science  is  conservative,  and  it  is 
right ;  but  sooner  or  later  it  must  awake  to  the 
fact  that  here  is  a  new  field  for  investigation 
which  comes  strictly  within  the  limits  of  its  aims, 
and  even  of  its  methods.  Many  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  great  body  of  scientific  workers  see 
and  know  this  ;  gradually  the  majority  will  see  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  stated  that  there 
is  no  intention  of  covering  the  whole  ground  of 
alleged  occult  psychic  phenomena,  but  only  a 
portion,  even  of  such  as  relate  to  our  present  life. 
The  subject  of  the  return  of  spirits  is  untouched  ; 

it  is   only   shown   that  the   domain   of  alleged 

307 


308     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

spiritualistic  manifestations  is  deeply  trenched 
upon  by  the  action  of  the  subliminal  self  of  living 
people  ;  what  lies  beyond  that  is  neither  affirmed 
nor  denied  ;  it  rests  upon  ground  yet  to  be  cleared 
up  and  considered  ;  and  any  facts  open  to  satis- 
factory investigation  are  always  welcomed  by  any 
of  the  many  persons  and  societies  interested  in 
discovering  what  is  true  relating  to  it. 

Confining  ourselves  within  the  limits  assigned, 
if  the  series  of  alleged  facts  which  has  been  pre- 
sented in  the  preceding  chapters  be  true,  then  we 
are  in  the  presence  of  a  momentous  reality  which, 
for  importance  and  value,  has  not  been  exceeded, 
if,  indeed,  it  has  been  approached  by  any  of  the 
discoveries  of  modern  times. 

But,  it  may  be  said,  your  alleged  facts  are  not 
new  ;  they  are  coeval  with  history,  with  my- 
thology, with  folk-lore,  with  religion.  Granted  that 
the  facts  are  old,  that  similar  ones  have  been 
known  from  very  early  times,  how  have  these 
facts  been  treated  by  the  leaders  of  thought  in 
the  nineteenth  century  ? 

That  the  earth  goes  round  the  sun  is  an  old 
fact,  yet  it  was  not  made  patent  and  credible, 
even  to  the  cultivated,  much  less  to  the  average 
mind,  till  recent  times.  Evolution  has  been 
going  on  since  millions  of  years  before  the  human 


TELEPATHY  NO  LONGER  A   VAGARY.        309 

race  came  into  existence — it  is  a  very  ancient 
fact,  yet  it  is  only  within  the  memory  of  men  still 
living  that  it  has  been  found  out  and  accepted. 
So  telepathy  has  existed  ever  since  the  race  was 
young,  yet  few  even  now  know  the  facts,  obser- 
vations, and  experiments  upon  which  its  existence 
is  predicated  or  comprehend  either  its  theories  or 
its  importance.  The  subliminal  self  has  been 
active  in  every  age  of  which  we  have  any  record. 
Yet  it  has  never  been  recognized  as  forming  a 
part  of  each  and  every  individual's  mental  outfit, 
but  its  wonderful  action  has  either  been  dis- 
credited altogether,  or  else  has  been  credited  to 
foreign  or  supernatural  agencies. 

But  telepathy  can  no  longer  be  classed  with 
fads  and  fancies ;  if  not  already  an  accepted  fact, 
it  has  certainly  attained  to  the  dignity  of  a  theory 
supported  by  both  facts  and  experiments  ;  a 
theory  which  has  attracted  to  its  study  a  large 
company  of  competent  men  in  every  civilized 
country. 

A  theory,  no  matter  in  what  department  of  in- 
vestigation it  may  be  found,  whether  relating  to 
matter  or  mind,  is  strong  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  facts  which  it  will  bring  into  line,  har- 
monize and  reduce  to  system.  It  is  that  which 
makes  the  Nebular  Theory  of  the  formation  of 


310     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

the  planetary  system  so  wonderfully  strong ;  it 
harmonizes  and  reduces  to  system  so  many  known 
but  otherwise  unrelated  and  unsystematized  facts ; 
and  it  is  easier  to  find  excuses  or  form  minor 
theories  to  account  for  isolated  and  apparently 
erratic  facts,  like  the  retrograde  motions  of  the 
satellites  of  Uranus  and  Neptune,  than  to  give  up 
a  theory,  at  once  so  grand  in  itself  and  at  the 
same  time  harmonizing  so  many  important  astro- 
nomical phenomena.  The  same  is  true  of  the  un- 
dulatory  theory  of  light,  and  again  of  the  theory  of 
evolution,  which  forty  years  ago  was  looked  upon 
as  a  flimsy  hypothesis,  but  which  is  now  universally 
accepted  as  an  established  truth.  Some  of  the 
facts  are  still  unclassified  and  unexplained,  yet  it 
so  harmonizes  in  general  the  facts  of  the  visible 
world,  that  instead  of  a  mass  of  disjointed  and 
heterogeneous  objects  and  phenomena,  such  as 
men  beheld  in  nature  only  a  hundred  years  ago, 
the  arbitrary  work  of  a  blind  chance  or  a  capri- 
cious Creator,  we  now  behold  a  beautiful  and 
orderly  sequence,  progression,  and  unfolding  of 
the  natural  world  according  to  laws  which  com- 
mand our  admiration  and  stimulate  our  reverence. 
Apart  from  recent  studies,  exactly  the  same 
condition  of  chaos  and  confusion  exists  regarding 
psychical  phenomena  as  existed  concerning  the 


IMPORTANCE  OF  PSYCHIC  STUDIES.        311 

facts  in  the  physical  world  only  a  hundred  years 
ago.  Nor  is  it  likening  great  things  to  small 
when  we  compare  the  nebular  hypothesis,  or 
the  theory  of  evolution,  conceptions  which  have 
educated  an  age  and  vastly  enlarged  the  boundary 
of  human  thought,  to  the  theory  of  telepathy  and 
the  fact  and  power  of  the  subliminal  self.  For  if 
it  was  important  that  men  should  know  the  laws 
governing  inanimate  matter,  to  comprehend  the 
orbits  and  motions  of  the  planets  ;  if  it  developed 
the  understanding  to  contemplate  the  grandeur  of 
their  movements,  the  vast  spaces  which  they 
traverse,  and  the  wonderful  speed  with  which  they 
accomplish  their  various  journeys — if  such  knowl- 
edge has  enlarged  the  capacity  of  men's  minds, 
given  them  truer  notions  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
universe,  and  grander  conceptions  of  nature  and 
the  infinite  power  and  intelligence  which  per- 
vades and  is  exhibited  in  it,  is  it  not  equally  im- 
portant and  equally  improving  and  practical  to 
study  the  subtler  forces  which  pervade  living 
organisms,  the  still  finer  laws  and  adjustments 
which  govern  the  action  of  mind  ? 

It  has  been  contended  by  a  large  and  intelligent 
class  of  writers,  and  those  who  most  pride  them- 
selves on  scientific  methods  and  the  infallibility  of 
scientific  inductions,  that  mind  is  only  the  pro- 


312     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

duct  of  organization  and  ceases  to  have  any 
activity  or  even  existence  when  the  organs  through 
which  it  usually  manifests  itself  have  perished. 
The  general  consensus  of  mankind  is  a  sharp 
protest  against  this  conclusion — but  the  experi- 
mental proofs  have,  to  many,  seemed  in  favor  of 
this  scientific  denial ; — the  healthy  brain  in  general 
exhibits  a  healthy  mental  activity,  the  diseased  or 
imperfect  brain  shows  impaired  mental  action,  and 
the  disorganized  brain  simply  exhibits  no  mental 
activity  nor  any  evidence  whatever  of  the  exist- 
ence of  mind.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  lame  argu- 
ment ;  it  is  simply  an  attempt  to  prove  a  negative. 

The  healthy  rose  emits  an  agreeable  odor  which 
our  senses  appreciate.  You  may  destroy  the  rose 
— it  does  not  prove  that  the  fragrance  which  it 
emitted  does  not  still  exist  even  though  our 
senses  fail  to  appreciate  it. 

But  experiment  and  scientific  methods  have 
also  somewhat  to  say  upon  this  subject.  And 
first,  in  August,  1874,  twenty-two  years  ago,  at 
the  moment  when  the  materialistic  school  was  at 
the  height  of  its  influence,  both  the  scientific  and 
religious  world  were  brought  to  a  momentary 
standstill — like  a  ship  under  full  headway  sud- 
denly struck  by  a  tidal  wave — when  one  of  the 
most  eminent  scientific  men  of  his  time,  or  of  any 


TYND ALL'S  IMPOR  TANT  STA  TEMENT.      3 1 3 

time,  standing  in  his  place  as  president  of  the 
foremost  scientific  association  in  the  world,  spoke 
as  follows:  "Abandoning  all  disguise,  the  con- 
fession which  I  feel  bound  to  make  before  you  is 
that  I  prolong  the  vision  backward  across  the 
boundary  of  experimental  evidence  and  discover 
in  matter,  which  we,  in  our  ignorance,  and  not- 
withstanding our  professed  reverence  for  its 
Creator,  have  hitherto  covered  with  opprobrium, 
the  promise  and  potency  of  every  form  of  life."  * 

On  that  day  the  tap-root  of  materialism  was 
wounded,  and  materialism  itself  has  been  an  in- 
valid of  increasing  languor  and  desuetude  ever 
since.  On  the  other  hand,  supernaturalism  in 
every  form  was  left  in  little  better  plight. 

To  thinking  men  of  all  classes  this  bold  decla- 
ration opened  up  the  grand  thought,  not  new,  but 
newly  formulated  and  endorsed,  that  as  the  seed 
contained  all  the  possibilities  of  the  future  plant 
— the  ovum  all  the  possibilities  of  the  future 
animal,  so  matter,  which  had  been  thought  so 
lightly  of,  contained  within  itself  the  germ,  po- 
tency, and  promise  of  nature  in  all  her  subsequent 
developments — of  the  vast  universe  of  suns  and 
systems,  planets  and  satellites,  and  of  every  form 

*  Prof.  Tyndall's  address   before   the  British  Association  at 
Belfast,  August,  1874. 


314     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

of  life,  sensation,  and  intelligence  which  in  due 
process  of  evolution  has  appeared  upon  their  sur- 
faces. It  pointed  the  way  to  the  thought  of  an 
infinite  causal  energy  and  intelligence  pervading 
matter  and  working  through  nature  in  all  its  various 
grades  of  life  from  the  first  organized  cell  up  to 
the  grandest  man.  It  gave  a  new  meaning  to 
mind  in  man,  as  being  an  individualized  portion 
of  that  divine  potency  which  ever  existed  in 
matter,  and  which  acting  through  constantly  im- 
proving and  developing  organisms,  amidst  con- 
stantly improving  environments,  at  length  ap- 
peared a  differentiated,  individualized,  seeing, 
reasoning,  knowing,  loving  spirit. 

The  mind,  then,  is  of  importance.  It  is  no  tran- 
sient visitor  which  may  have  made  its  appearance 
by  chance — a  concatenation  of  coincidences,  fort- 
unate or  unfortunate,  but  it  is  the  intelligent 
tenant  and  master  of  a  singularly  beautiful  and 
complicated  house,  a  house  which  has  been  mil- 
lions upon  millions  of  years  in  the  building,  and 
yet  which  will  be  lightly  laid  aside  when  it  ceases 
to  accommodate  and  fulfil  the  needs  of  its 
tenant. 

Who  and  what,  then,  is  this  lordly  tenant  whose 
germ  was  coeval  with  matter,  whose  birth  was  in 
the  first  living  cell  which  appeared  upon  the 


THE  DE  VEL  OPMENT  OF  MIND.  3 1 5 

planet,  whose  apprenticeship  has  been  served 
through  every  grade  of  existence  from  the  humble 
polyp  upwards,  whose  education  has  been  car- 
ried on  through  the  brain  and  organs  of  every 
grade  of  animal  life  with  its  countless  expedients 
for  existence  and  enjoyment,  until  now,  as  lord  of 
its  domain,  it  looks  back  upon  its  long  course  of 
development  and  education,  looks  about  upon  its 
environments  and  wonders  at  itself,  at  what  it 
sees,  and  at  what  it  prophesies.  Truly  what  is 
this  tenant,  what  are  its  powers,  and  why  is  it 
here  at  all  ? 

These  are  the  questions  which  it  has  been  the 
business  of  the  strongest  and  wisest  to  discuss, 
from  the  time  men  began  to  think  and  record 
their  thoughts  until  the  present  time ;  but  how 
various  and  unsatisfactory  have  been  the  con- 
clusions. The  mental  philosophers,  psychologists, 
and  encyclopedists  simply  present  a  chaos  of  con- 
flicting definitions,  principles,  and  premises,  upon 
none  of  which  are  they  in  full  agreement  amongst 
themselves ;  they  are  not  even  agreed  regarding 
the  nature  of  mind — whether  it  is  material  or 
immaterial — how  it  should  be  studied,  how  it  is 
related  to  the  body,  indeed  whether  it  is  an 
entity  at  all,  or  simply  "  a  series  of  feelings  or 
possibilities  of  them  " ;  whether  it  possesses  in- 


316     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

nate  ideas  or  is  simply  an  accretion  of  experiences. 
In  short,  the  stock  of  generally  received  facts 
relating  to  mind  has  always  remained  exceed- 
ingly small.  Psychologists  have  busied  them- 
selves chiefly  about  its  usual  and  obvious  actions, 
and  when  in  full  relation  to  the  body,  ignoring 
all  other  mental  action  or  arbitrarily  excluding  it 
as  abnormal  and  not  to  be  taken  into  account  in 
the  study  of  normal  mind  ;  so  with  only  half  the 
subject  under  consideration  true  results  could 
hardly  be  attained. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  Society  for  Psy- 
chical Research,  in  1882,  new  fields  of  investi- 
gation have  been  undertaken  and  the  unusual 
phenomena  connected  with  the  operations  of 
mind  have  been  systematically  studied.  A  very 
hasty  and  imperfect  sketch  of  this  study  and  of 
the  results  obtained  has  been  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapters,  but  for  the  use  here  made  of 
these  studies  in  connection  with  his  own  observa- 
tions the  writer  alone  is  responsible.  In  these 
studies  the  field  of  investigation  has  been  greatly 
extended  beyond  that  examined  by  the  old 
philosophers  and  physiologists.  Beyond  the 
usual  activities  in  which  we  constantly  see  the 
mind  engaged — observation  of  surroundings  made 
by  the  senses,  memory  of  them,  reasoning  about 


THE  INDEPENDENCE  OF  MIND.  317 

them,  and  putting  them  in  new  combinations  in 
science,  literature,  or  art — new  activities  have 
been  observed,  activities  lying  entirely  outside 
the  old  lines,  in  new  and  hitherto  unexplored 
fields. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  by  experiment  after 
experiment  carefully  made  by  competent  persons 
that  sensations,  ideas,  information,  and  mental 
pictures  can  be  transferred  from  one  mind  to  an- 
other without  the  aid  of  speech,  sight,  hearing, 
touch,  or  any  of  the  ordinary  methods  of  com- 
municating such  information  or  impressions. 
That  is,  Telepathy  is  a  fact,  and  mind  commu- 
nicates with  mind  through  channels  other  than 
the  ordinary  use  of  the  senses. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  in  the  hypnotic 
condition,  in  ordinary  somnambulism,  in  the 
dreams  and  vision  of  ordinary  sleep,  in  reverie, 
and  in  various  other  subjective  conditions  the 
mind  may  perceive  scenes  and  events  at  the  mo- 
ment transpiring  at  such  a  distance  away  or 
under  such  physical  conditions  as  to  render  it  ' 
impossible  that  knowledge  of  these  scenes  and 
events  could  be  obtained  by  means  of  the  senses 
acting  in  their  usual  manner.  That  is,  mind 
under  some  circumstances  sees  without  the  use  of 
the  physical  organ  of  sight. 


318     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Again,  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  some  per- 
sons can  voluntarily  project  the  mind — some  mind 
— some  centre  of  intelligence  or  independent 
mental  activity,  clothed  in  a  recognizable  form,  a 
distance  of  one,  a  hundred,  or  a  thousand  miles, 
and  that  it  can  there  make  itself  known  and 
recognized,  perform  acts,  and  even  carry  on  a  con- 
versation with  the  person  to  whom  it  was  sent. 
That  is,  mind  can  act  at  a  distance  from,  and  in- 
dependent of,  the  physical  body  and  the  organs 
through  which  it  usually  manifests  itself. 

These  propositions  present  an  aspect  of  mind 
which  the  authorities  in  the  old  fields  of  psy- 
chology have  failed  to  observe  or  to  recognize ; 
or  if  they  have  at  times  caught  a  glimpse  of  it 
they  have  rather  chosen  to  close  their  eyes  and 
deny  altogether  the  phenomena  which  these  prop- 
ositions imply,  because  they  found  it  was  impos- 
sible to  classify  them  in  their  system.  It  has  been 
to  a  degree  a  repetition  of  the  folly  exhibited  by 
Galileo's  contemporaries  and  critics,  who  refused 
to  look  through  his  telescope  lest  their  favorite 
theories  of  the  universe  should  be  damaged. 
Nevertheless,  this  newly  studied  aspect  exists,  and 
is  adding  greatly  to  our  knowledge  of  the  nature 
and  action  of  mind. 

Still  another  class  of  unusual  mental  phenomena 


MO  TOR  AND  SENSOR  Y  A  UTOMA  TSSM.       3 1 9 

found  in  this  outlying  field  of  psychology  is  that 
known  under  the  general  name  of  automatism  ; 
and  by  this  is  meant  something  more  than  the 
"  unconscious  cerebration  "  and  "  unconscious 
muscular  action  "  of  the  physiologists,  and  some- 
thing quite  different  from  that. 

There  is,  first,  the  class  of  motor  automatisms, 
including  Planchette-writing  and  other  methods 
of  automatic  writing,  drawing,  painting,  and 
kindred  performances,  also  poetical  or  metrical  im- 
provisations, and  trance,  and  so-called  inspirational 
speaking : — Second,  there  are  the  sensory  autom- 
atisms ;  or  such  as  are  manifested  by  impressions 
made  upon  the  senses  and  which  are  reckoned  as 
hallucinations.  The  impression  of  hearing  a 
voice,  of  feeling  a  touch,  or  seeing  a  vision  may  be 
reckoned  as  examples  of  this  kind  of  automatism. 

No  other  division  of  this  newly  cultivated  field 
presents  so  many  unusual  and  debatable  phe- 
nomena. Not  only  do  those  modern  mysteries, 
Planchette-writing,  trance-speaking,  and  medium- 
istic  utterances  come  easily  under  this  class  of 
mental  phenomena,  but  all  that  vast  array  of 
alleged  supernatural  phenomena  which  pervades 
the  literature  of  every  nation  since  the  time  when 
men  first  began  to  record  their  experiences.  The 
oracles  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  the  daemon  of 


320     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Socrates,  the  voices  of  Joan  of  Arc,  and  the  wide- 
spread custom  of  divination  by  means  of  crystal- 
gazing  in  some  of  its  many  forms  have  already 
been  referred  to  and  their  relation  to  automatism 
or  the  action  of  the  subliminal  self  has  been  noted. 

There  is  still  one  important  class  of  persons 
who  have  wielded  an  enormous  influence  upon 
mankind,  an  influence  in  the  main  wholesome, 
elevating,  and  developing,  whose  relation  to 
automatism  demands  a  passing  consideration.  I 
refer  to  the  religious  chiefs  of  the  world. 

As  prominent  examples  of  those  founders  of 
religions  we  will  briefly  notice  Moses,  Zoroaster, 
Mahomet,  and  Swedenborg.  Each  either  professed 
himself  to  be,  or  his  followers  have  credited  him 
with  being,  the  inspired  mouthpiece  of  the  Deity. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  candid 
students  that  each  one  of  these  religious  leaders 
was  perfectly  honest,  both  as  regards  his  concep- 
tion of  the  character  and  importance  of  his  doc- 
trines and  also  regarding  the  method  by  which  he 
professed  to  receive  them.  Each  believed  that 
what  he  taught  was  ultimate  and  infallible  truth, 
and  was  received  directly  from  the  Deity.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  from  whatever  source  they 
were  derived  the  doctrines  could  not  all  be  ultimate 
truth,  since  they  were  not  in  harmony  amongst 


GEMS  OF  TRUTH  IN  EACH.       32 1 

themselves  ;  but  the  authors  of  them  all  present 
their  claim  to  inspiration,  and  whose  claim  to 
accept  and  whose  to  reject  it  is  difficult  to  decide. 
But  accepting  the  theory  that  each  promulgated 
the  doctrines,  theological,  cosmological,  and  eth- 
ical, that  came  to  him  automatically  through  the 
superior  perception  of  the  subliminal  self,  all  the 
phenomena  fall  into  line  with  the  well  ascertained 
action  of  that  subliminal  self. 

The  truth  which  Moses  saw  was  such  as  was 
adapted  to  his  age  and  the  people  with  whom  he 
had  to  deaL  So  there  came  to  his  perception  not 
only  the  sublime  laws  received  at  Sinai,  but  also 
the  particulars  regarding  the  tabernacle  and  its 
furnishing — the  rings  and  the  curtains,  the  dishes 
and  spoons  and  bowls  and  covers,  the  rams'  skins 
dyed  red,  the  badgers'  skins,  and  the  staves  of 
shittim  wood.  The  same  also  is  true  regarding 
the  teachings  of  Zoroaster. 

The  splendid  results  which  followed  the  pro- 
mulgation of  Mahomet's  revelation  to  a  few  insig- 
nificant Arab  tribes  are  proof  of  its  vital  germ  of 
truth  and  of  its  adaptability  to  the  soil  into  which 
it  fell.  It  developed  into  a  civilization  from  which, 
at  a  later  period,  a  benighted  and  debased  Chris- 
tianity relighted  its  torch. 

Also   the  teachings  of  Swedenborg,   notwith- 


322     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

standing  the  apparent  egotism  of  the  man  and 
the  tiresome  verbiage  of  many  of  his  communica- 
tions, are  elevating  and  refining  in  character  and 
useful  to  those  who  are  attracted  to  them.  That 
in  either  case  an  infinite  Deity  spoke  the  common- 
place which  is  attributed  to  Him  in  these  commu- 
nications is  incredible,  but  to  suppose  it  all,  both 
the  grand  and  the  trivial,  the  work  of  the  sub- 
conscious self  of  the  respective  authors  is  in 
accordance  with  what  we  know  of  automatism 
and  of  the  wonderful  work  of  the  subliminal  self 
when  left  free  to  exercise  its  highest  activities. 

Let  us  examine  with  some  care  the  history  of 
two  examples  of  unusual  or  supranormal  mental 
action,  the  first  found  in  one  of  the  earliest  of 
human  records,  and  reckoned  as  fully  inspired  ; 
the  other  equally  unusual  occurring  within  the 
last  half  century  and  making  no  claim  to  any 
supernatural  assistance. 

The  first  example  is  presented  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  and  is  a  clear,  connected,  and  in 
the  main  correct,  though  by  no  means  complete, 
account  of  the  changing  conditions  of  the  earth 
in  the  earliest  geological  periods,  and  of  the  ap- 
pearance in  their  proper  order  of  the  different 
grades  of  life  upon  its  surface.  That  such  a 
written  account  should  have  existed  three  thou- 


THE  VISION  OF  MOSES.  323 

sand  years  before  any  scientifically  constructed 
schedule  even  of  the  order  in  which  plants  and 
and  animals  succeeded  each  other,  much  less  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  earth  was  prepared  for 
their  reception  and  nurture,  is  a  most  remarkable 
circumstance,  regarded  either  from  a  literary  or  a 
scientific  standpoint.  It  has  been  criticised  for 
its  lack  of  scientific  exactness,  and  the  supposed 
error  of  representing  light  as  created  before  the 
sun,  ignoring  the  early  existence  of  aquatic  life, 
and  similar  points.  But  let  us  take  our  stand 
with  the  grand  old  seer,  whoever  he  may  have 
been,  whom  we  know  as  Moses,  who  gave  to  the 
world  this  graphic  account  of  the  order  of  creation 
so  many  centuries  before  science  had  thrown 
its  light  upon  the  condition  of  the  earth  in 
those  far-off  ages,  and  let  us  endeavor  to  see 
what  his  quickened  vision  enabled  him  to 
behold. 

The  panorama  opens  and  discloses  in  an  hour 
the  grand  progressive  action  of  millions  upon 
millions  of  years. 

The  first  picture  represents  the  created  earth 
covered  with  water  and  enveloped  in  a  thick 
mantle  of  steaming  mist,  causing  a  condition  of 
absolute  and  impenetrable  darkness  upon  its  sur- 
face. In  the  language  of  the  seer,  "  The  earth 


324     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

was  without  form  and  void ;  and  darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep."  For  ages  the  unbroken 
ocean  which  covered  the  earth  was  heated  by  in- 
ternal fires  ;  the  rising  vapor  as  it  met  the  cooler 
atmosphere  above  was  condensed  and  fell  in  one 
constant  downpour  of  rain.  Unceasing,  steaming 
mist,  vapor,  and  rain,  wholly  impenetrable  to 
light :  such  were  the  conditions. 

At  length,  as  the  cooling  process  went  on,  the 
density  of  the  mists  was  diminished  ; — the  won- 
derful fiat  went  forth,  "  Let  light  be  "—and  light 
was.  But  still  the  mantle  hung  close  upon  the 
unbroken  ocean. 

The  second  picture  appears.  Not  only  was 
there  light  but  a  firmament — an  arch  with  a  clear 
space  underneath  it ;  and  it  divided  the  waters 
which  were  above  it  from  the  waters  which  were 
beneath  it. 

Picture  the  third.  The  waters  were  gathered 
together  and  the  continents  appeared  ;  and  the 
land  was  covered  with  verdure — plants  and  trees, 
each  bearing  seed  after  its  kind.  Of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  sea  the  seer  had  taken  no  account. 
It  was  simply  a  picture  that  he  saw — a  natural, 
phenomenal  representation. 

Picture  the  fourth.  The  mists  and  clouds  are 
altogether  dispelled.  The  clear  sky  appears.  The 


INFALLIBILITY  NOT  EXPECTED.  325 

sun  comes  forth  to  rule  the  day — the  moon  to 
rule  the  night.  The  stars  also  appear. 

Picture  the  fifth.  The  lower  orders  of  animals 
are  in  full  possession  of  the  earth  and  sea — fish, 
fowl,  and  sea-monsters. 

Picture  the  sixth.  The  higher  orders  of  crea- 
tion, mammals  and  man. 

Such  was  the  phenomenal  aspect  of  the  various 
epochs  of  creation  roughly  outlined,  strong,  dis- 
tinct, and  in  the  main  true.  Not  even  the  scien- 
tific critic  with  his  present  knowledge  could  com- 
bine more  strength  and  truth,  with  so  few  strokes 
of  the  brush. 

Relieved  of  the  burden  of  inspiration  and  the 
necessity  for  presenting  absolute  and  unchange- 
able truth,  and  presenting  the  seer  as  simply 
telling  what  he  saw,  the  picture  is  wonderful,  and 
the  telling  is  most  graphic.  It  needed  no  deity 
nor  angel  to  tell  it — it  was  there — and  the  sublim- 
inal self  of  the  seer  whose  special  faculty  it  was 
to  see,  perceived  the  scene  in  all  its  grandeur. 
He  also  was  the  one  best  fitted  to  perceive  the 
laws  which  should  make  his  people  great,  and  de- 
scribe the  forms  and  ceremonies  which  should 
captivate  their  senses  and  lead  them  on  to 
higher  intellectual,  moral,  and  ethical  develop- 
ment. 


326     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

Next  take  the  other  example.  Fifty  years  ago 
a  young  man,  not  yet  twenty  years  of  age,  un- 
educated, a  grocer's  boy  and  shoemaker's  appren- 
tice, was  hypnotized ;  and  it  was  found  that  he 
had  a  most  remarkable  mental  or  psychical  consti- 
tution. He  had  most  unusual  experiences,  and 
presented  unusual  psychical  phenomena  which 
need  not  be  recounted  here. 

At  length  it  was  impressed  upon  him  as  it 
might  have  been  upon  Socrates  or  Joan  of  Arc, 
or  Swedenborg  or  Mahomet,  that  he  had  a  mis- 
sion and  had  a  message  to  give  to  the  world.  He 
came  from  the  rural  town  where  he  had  spent  his 
boyhood  to  the  city  of  New  York  and  hired  a 
room  on  a  prominent  thoroughfare.  He  then,  in 
his  abnormal  condition,  proceeded  to  choose  those 
who  should  be  specially  associated  with  him  in  his 
work — men  of  character  and  ability  whom  he  did 
not  even  know  in  his  normal  state.  First :  Three 
witnesses  were  chosen  who  should  be  fully 
cognizant  of  everything  relating  to  the  method  by 
which  the  message  or  book  was  produced.  Of 
these  one  was  a  clergyman,  one  a  physician,  and 
one  an  intelligent  layman.  Second :  A  scribe 
qualified  to  write  out  the  messages  as  he  dictated 
them,  to  edit  and  publish  them.  Third  :  A  phy- 
sician to  put  him  into  the  hypnotic,  or  as  it  was 


A  MODERN  RE  VELA  TION.  327 

then  called,  the  magnetic  condition,  in  which  he 
was  to  dictate  his  messages. 

The  first  lecture  was  given  November  28th, 
1845,  and  the  last  June  2ist,  1847.  During  this 
time  157  lectures  were  given,  varying  in  length 
from  forty  minutes  to  four  hours,  and  they  were 
all  carefully  written  out  by  the  scribe.  To  140 
of  these  manuscripts  were  attached  267  names  of 
persons  who  listened  to  them  and  subscribed 
their  names  as  witnesses  at  the  end  of  each  lec- 
ture— to  some  a  single  signature  was  affixed,  to 
some,  many.  Any  person  really  desirous  of 
knowing  the  purport  of  these  lectures  and  the 
manner  of  their  delivery  could  be  admitted  by 
making  application  beforehand. 

At  each  sitting  the  speaker  was  first  put  into 
the  deep  hypnotic  trance  in  which  he  was  rigid 
and  unconscious  ;  but  his  sub-conscious  or  second 
self  was  active  and  lucid,  and  associated  with  the 
principles  and  knowledge  which  he  needed  and 
which  he  was  to  communicate.  From  this  con- 
dition he  came  back  to  the  somnambulic  state  in 
which  he  dictated  that  which  he  had  acquired  in 
the  deep  trance,  or  what  he  called  the  "  superior 
condition  "  ;  and  the  transition  from  one  of  these 
states  to  the  other  took  place  many  times  during 
each  lecture.  Such  were  the  conditions  under 


328     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

which  Andrew  Jackson  Davis  produced  the 
Principles  of  Nature — Her  Divine  Revelation — a 
book  of  nearly  800  pages,  divided  into  three 
parts : — First,  a  setting  forth  of  first  principles, 
which  served  as  a  philosophical  explanation  or 
key  to  the  main  work.  Second,  a  cosmogony  or 
description  of  the  method  by  which  the  universe 
came  to  its  present  state  of  development,  and 
third,  a  statement  of  the  ethical  principles  upon 
which  society  should  be  based  and  the  practical 
working  of  these  principles.  It  assumes  to  be 
thoroughly  scientific  and  philosophical.  It  has 
literary  faults,  and  there  is  plenty  of  opportunity 
for  cavil  and  scientific  fault-finding ;  but  these 
remarkable  facts  remain. 

A  poor  boy,  thoroughly  well  known  and 
vouched  for  by  his  neighbors  for  his  strict  in- 
tegrity, having  had  only  five  months  of  ordinary 
district  school  instruction  for  his  education, 
having  never  read  a  scientific  or  philosophical 
book,  and  not  a  dozen  all  told  of  every  kind, 
having  never  associated  with  people  of  education 
except  in  the  most  casual  way,  yet  in  the  manner 
just  described  he  dictated  a  book  containing  the 
outlines  of  a  thoroughly  sound  and  reasonable 
system  of  philosophy,  theology,  and  ethics,  and  a 
complete  system  of  cosmogony  representing  the 


DISCLOSURES  IN  ASTRONOMY.  329 

most  advanced  views  in  geology,  which  was  then 
in  its  infancy — astronomy,  chemistry,  and  other 
departments  of  physical  science,  criticising  cur- 
rent  scientific  opinions,  and  in  points  where  he. 
differed  from  these  opinions  giving  full  and 
cogent  reason  for  that  difference. 

On  March  i6th,  i/th,  and  2Oth,  1846,  he  an- 
nounced the  fact  of  the  motion  of  our  sun  and 
solar  system  about  a  still  greater  centre,  in  har- 
mony with  the  Nebular  Hypothesis  by  which  he 
explained  the  formation  of  the  whole  vast  system. 
He  also  announced  the  existence  of  an  eighth  and 
ninth  planet,  and  the  apparently  abnormal  revo- 
lution of  the  satellites  of  Uranus.  Neptune,  the 
eighth  planet,  had  not  then  been  discovered  and 
was  not  found  until  six  months  later.  On  the 
2Qth  of  April  he  announced  the  discovery  and 
application  of  diamagnetism  by  Faraday,  con- 
cerning which  none  of  his  associates  had  any 
knowledge,  and  which  I  believe  had  not  then 
been  noticed  in  this  country.  He  gave  a  distinct 
and  vivid  description  of  the  formation  of  the 
different  bodies  constituting  the  solar  system,  of 
the  introduction  of  life  upon  our  planet,  and  of 
its  evolution  from  grade  to  grade  from  the  lowest 
to  the  highest — all  in  minute  detail,  in  general 
accord  with  established  scientific  deduction 


330     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

and  in  scientific  and  technical  language.  In 
several  particulars  he  differed  from  the  received 
opinions,  and  gave  his  reasons  for  so  doing.  No 
claim  was  made  to  inspiration  nor  to  the  presen- 
tation of  absolute  or  infallible  truth,  but  when 
hypnotized  and  in  what  he  termed  the  "  superior 
condition,"  his  perceptive  faculties  were  vastly  in- 
creased, and  that  which  he  then  perceived  he 
made  known.  He  simply  gave  the  truth  as  he 
saw  it,  and  he  commended  it  to  the  judgment 
and  reason  of  mankind  for  reception  or  rejection. 
In  other  words,  the  subliminal  self  was  brought 
into  action  by  hypnotism,  and  then  by  means  of 
its  greatly  increased  perceptive  powers  he  gathered 
knowledge  from  various  sources  quite  inaccessible 
to  him  in  his  ordinary  state,  and  seemingly  in- 
accessible also  to  others. 

Concerning  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  revela- 
tions beyond  what  was  already  known  or  has 
since  been  confirmed  by  science,  I  do  not  assume 
to  pronounce  judgment ;  but  that  this  also,  as  well 
as  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  from  either  a  liter- 
ary or  scientific  standpoint,  is  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  productions  of  this  or  of  any  age,  will 
not  be  denied  by  any  competent  and  candid 
examiner  ;  while  the  remarkable  character  of  the 
book  will  be  still  better  appreciated  when  the 


ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  A  UTOMA  TISM.     33 1 

status  of  the  theory  of  evolution  and  of  the 
science  of  geology  fifty  years  ago  is  taken  into 
the  account. 

Here  are  presented  two  prominent  examples  of 
supranormal  mental  activity — one  in  the  early 
ages  of  man's  development,  when  everything  was 
supernatural,  the  immediate  work  of  a  god — the 
other  in  man's  later  development  when  natural 
law  is  found  intervening  between  phenomena  and 
their  cause,  and  when  it  is  found  possible  for  men 
to  comprehend  the  fact  that  truth,  extraordinary 
and  even  that  which  had  previously  been  unknown 
or  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  senses  in  their 
ordinary  state,  may  nevertheless  be  discovered  or 
revealed  by  other  means  than  direct  communica- 
tions from  Deity. 

It  is  seen,  then,  how  various  and  how  wonder- 
fully important  are  the  mental  phenomena  grouped 
under  the  general  designation  of  automatism. 

Many  examples  of  this  and  other  classes  of  un- 
usual mental  action  have  been  given  in  previous 
chapters,  not  as  cumulative  evidence  of  their 
verity — that  would  require  volumes,  but  simply 
to  illustrate  the  subject  and  give  some  degree  of 
definiteness  to  our  reasoning  regarding  them. 
Not  even  all  the  classes  of  facts  properly  belong- 
ing to  our  subject  have  here  been  represented  •, 


332      TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

but  taking  them  as  they  have  been  enumerated 
and  hastily  described,  they  constitute  a  body  of 
well  observed  and  well  authenticated  facts  and 
phenomena  of  undeniable  interest,  and  if  received 
as  true  their  importance  is  certainly  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  greatest  discoveries  of  modern 
science.  They  are,  however,  the  very  facts  which 
the  science  and  philosophy  of  to-day  hesitates  to 
accept.  The  only  exception  to  this  statement  is 
found  in  the  treatment  lately  accorded  to  hyp- 
notism, which  after  a  hundred  years  of  hesitation, 
rejection  and  even  ridicule,  has  at  length  been 
definitely  received  as  regards  its  main  facts.  It 
is  true,  however,  that  in  numerous  other  instances 
the  evidence  regarding  unusual  mental  states  and 
phenomena  is  equally  weighty  and  unimpeach- 
able ;  but  because  these  phenomena  are  unusual, 
marvelous  or  seemingly  miraculous,  belonging  to 
no  recognized  class  of  mental  action,  therefore  it 
is  argued,  they  cannot  be  genuine  ;  there  must  be 
some  flaw  in  the  evidence  and  they  cannot  be 
accepted. 

It  is  tedious  going  over  the  arguments  which 
reduce  this  mode  of  reasoning  to  an  absurdity. 
The  same  reasoning  has  been  applied  to  every 
important  discovery  in  physical  science  for  the 
past  three  hundred  years  ;  and  if  it  were  carried 


COLD  RECEPTION  OF  NEW  TRUTH.         333 

out  to  its  logical  conclusions  no  substantial  ad- 
vance in  human  knowledge  could  ever  take  place, 
since  every  discovery  or  observation  of  phe- 
nomena outside  of  known  laws  must  on  that 
ground  be  rejected.  And  the  history  of  scientific 
discoveries  shows  that  this  has  actually  been  the 
case.  The  announcement  of  the  discovery  of  the 
movements  of  the  planets  around  the  sun,  of  the 
attraction  of  gravitation,  of  the  identity  of  light- 
ning with  electricity,  of  the  relation  and  deriva- 
tion of  species  in  the  world  of  living  forms — of 
the  discovery  of  living  toads  in  geological  strata 
of  untold  antiquity,  and  scores  of  other  now 
accepted  facts,  were  accounted  visionary  and 
were  received  with  scoffs  and  jeers  by  the  accred- 
ited leaders  of  science,  because  they  were  outside 
of  any  known  natural  laws  ;  and  it  was  only  after 
the  study  and  contemplation  of  the  new  dis- 
coveries had  educated  and  enlarged  the  minds  of 
a  new  generation  of  men  to  a  better  understand- 
ing of  the  extent  and  magnitude  of  nature  and 
her  laws  that  the  scoffs  subsided  and  the  new 
facts  quietly  took  their  places  as  accredited 
science. 

The  same  process  is  going  on  regarding  mental 
phenomena  to-day.  It  may  require  a  generation 
for  men  unused  to  think  in  this  direction  to  be- 


334     TELEPA  THY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF. 

come  familiarized  with  the  thought  that  telepathy, 
clairvoyance,  and  the  subliminal  self,  with  its 
augmented  powers,  are  facts  in  nature  ;  but  thou- 
sands of  intelligent  people,  and  many  accustomed 
to  examine  facts  critically  and  according  to  ap- 
proved methods,  are  already  so  interpreting 
nature,  and  their  number  is  constantly  increasing. 
Such  are  some  of  the  facts  discovered  by  the 
pioneers  in  this  outlying  field  of  psychology.  In 
attempting  to  explain  or  account  for  them  it  is 
useless  to  take  refuge  in  the  hazy  definitions  of 
the  old  psychologists,  or  to  imagine  that  the 
secret  is  bound  up  in  the  vital  processes  which 
occupy  the  biologist  and  physiologist,  interesting 
and  important  as  those  studies  are ;  even  the 
neurologist  can  help  us  comparatively  little — he 
can  tell  us  all  about  diseases  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem and  how  they  manifest  themselves,  and  his 
labor  has  earned  for  him  the  gratitude  of  man- 
kind ;  but  he  cannot  tell  us  how  thinking  is  ac- 
complished, nor  what  thought  is ;  he  cannot  tell 
the  cause  of  so  normal  and  easily  observed  a 
phenomenon  as  ordinary  sleep,  much  less  of  the 
new  faculties  which  are  developed  in  somnambu- 
lism. In  all  these  related  departments  of  science, 
in  considering  mental  phenomena  it  is  found  con- 
venient to  deny  the  existence  of  that  for  which 


THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF  BRINGS  ORDER,  335 

they  cannot  account.  Nature's  processes,  how- 
ever, are  simple  when  once  we  comprehend  them, 
so  much  so  that  we  wonder  at  their  simplicity, 
and  wonder  that  we  ever  could  have  failed  to 
understand  them  ;  and  we  learn  to  distrust  ex- 
planations which  are  involved  and  complicated, 
knowing  that  error  often  lies  that  way.  And  of 
this  kind  for  the  most  part,  the  attempted  ex- 
planations of  mental  processes  in  terms  of  physi- 
ology have  proved  to  be  ;  they  are  complicated, 
inapplicable,  and  unsatisfactory  ;  and  they  give  no 
aid  in  the  generalizations  which  have  hitherto 
been  so  much  needed. 

The  phenomena  in  this  new  field  at  first  sight 
seem  heterogeneous,  without  system  or  any  com- 
mon bond  ;  they  seem  each  to  demand  a  separate 
origin  and  field.  But  let  the  idea  of  the  sublimi- 
nal self,  intelligent,  and  endowed  with  its  higher 
perceptive  faculties,  be  presented,  and  lo  !  all  these 
refractory  phenomena  fall  into  place  in  one  har- 
monious system.  The  subliminal  self  is  the 
active  and  efficient  agent  in  telepathy — it  is  that 
which  sees  and  hears  and  acts  far  away  from  the 
body,  and  reports  the  knowledge  which  it  gains 
to  the  ordinary  senses,  sometimes  by  motor  and 
sometimes  by  sensory  automatism — by  automatic 
writing,  speaking,  audition,  the  vision,  the  phan- 


336     TELEPATHY  AND  THE  SUBLIMINAL  SELF, 

tasm.  It  acts  sometimes  while  the  primary  self 
is  fully  conscious — better  and  most  frequently  in 
reverie,  in  dreams,  in  somnambulism,  but  best  of 
all  when  the  ordinary  self  is  altogether  subjective 
and  the  body  silent,  inactive,  and  insensible,  as  in 
that  strange  condition  which  accompanies  the 
higher  phases  of  trance  and  lucidity,  into  which 
few  enter,  either  spontaneously  or  by  the  aid  of 
hypnotism.  Then  still  retaining  its  attenuated 
vital  connection,  it  goes  forth  and  sees  with  ex- 
tended vision  and  gathers  truth  from  a  thousand 
various  and  hidden  sources. 

Will  it  act  less  freely,  less  intelligently,  with 
less  consciousness  and  individuality  when  that 
attenuated  vital  connection  is  severed,  and  the 
body  lies — untenanted  ? 


THE  END. 


INDEX. 


A. 

PAGE 

A.,  Miss,  Perceives  an  induced  phantom 236 

A.,  Miss,  Her  journey  automatically  described 188 

A.  B.,  Clairvoyance  of 102-105 

Alexis,  "  86-87 

Anaesthesia,  local,  produced  by  hypnotism 67 

Apollonius,  Clairvoyance  of 80 

Apparitions  or  Phantasms,  Collective  Cases,  293,  294,  295,  299 

Automatism 151 

"          Ancient  and  modern ...     331 

"          Grades  or  kinds  of 151-154 

"          Motor  and  sensory 198,  319 

Automatisms,  Sensory,  considered  as  hallucinations. . .     219 

"  "         manifested  by  hearing 220 

"  The  daemon  of  Socrates 220 

"  Voices  and  visions  of  Joan  of  Arc 221 

Automatic  writing,  by  Planchette 158,  180 

Mr.  W.  T.  Stead 186-193 

"         drawing  and  painting  by  Mrs.  Burton 194 

Aylesbury,  Commander  T.  W.,  Case  by 289 

B. 

B.,  Madame,  Hypnotic  subject 58-61,  131-135,  183 

Barrett,  Prof.  W.  T.,  and  the  S.  P.  R 5 

Bernheim,  Prof.,  His  theories  of  hypnotism 36 

"  "       Post  hypnotic  suggestions,  cases 63-67 

Bishop,  The  mind-reader 8 

Bourne,  Ansel,  Double  personality  of 119,  182 

Borderland  cases.     Between  sleeping  and  waking 269 

337 


338  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Borderland  cases — visions 269,  271,  273 

Braid,  His  theory  of  hypnotism 31 

Brettany,  Mrs. ,  Vision,  percipient  awake 304 

Brittan,  Dr.  S.  B.,  Cases  reported  by 99-101 

Brown,  A.  J.,  A  second  personality 119,  182 

Brougham,  Lord,  Borderland  case 273-279 

Buchanan,  Dr.  W.  B.,  Case  by,  collective 295 

Burton,  Mrs.  Julietta  T.,  Automatic  writing 194 

"          "  "  Drawing  and  painting  by 195 

"          "            "            Portrait,  by  (Frontispiece)...     196 
"         "  "  Psychometric  powers 199 

C. 

Carpenter,  Dr.  Wm.  B. ,  His  theory 9 

Charcot,  Prof.,  His  theory  of  hypnotism 33 

Chiefs,  Religious 320 

"  "       Moses,  Zoroaster,  Mahomet,  Sweden- 

borg 320 

Clairvoyance 74 

"  Instances  of 78-109 

"  Ancient  and  modern 81 

"  Nature  of 109 

Cleave,  Mr.  A.  H.  W.,  and  Mr.  H.  P.  Sparks,  Phantasm 

produced  by 234 

Clerke,  May,  Case  reported  by 296 

Collyer,  Dr.  R.  H.,  Case,  vision,  reported  by 285,  288 

Coues,  Dr.  E.,  Case  reported  by  88-90 

Crystal-gazing,  Used  for  producing  visions 200 

"  "        Cases  reported  by  Mr.  E.  W.  Lane. . . .     201 

"  ' '        Practised  in  all  ages 203 

"  "        Amongst  the  Hebrews 204 

"  "  "          "   Greeks 205 

"  "        In  the  Opera  of  Parsifal 206 

"  "        The  Shew-stone  of  Dr.  Dee 204 

"  "        What  it  really  is 208 

"  "        Experiments  of  Miss  X 209-214 

"  "        Col.  Wickham's  pouch-belt  found  by..     214 


INDEX. 


339 


PAGS 

Crystal-gazing,  Springs  and  wells  used  for 216 

Cumberland,  Mind-reader 8 

D. 

Davis,  A.  J. ,  Production  of  Principles  of  Nature,  Her 

Divine  Revelation,  by 328 

Deyer,  Col.  J.  J.,  His  well,  in  relation  to  Crystal-gazing.  216 

Diagrams,  Illustrating  thought-transference 19 

Dreams,  Definite  impressions  during 263 

"        Veridical,  cases  of 263,  266 

Dufay,  Dr.,  Case  reported  by 95 

£. 

Elliotson,  Dr.,  Mesmeric  treatment  by 43 

P. 

Fenton,  Mr.  F.  D.,  Vision,  case  reported  by 284 

Fitzgerald,  John,  Clairvoyance  of •  101 

G. 

Gerault,  Dr.,  Clairvoyance,  case  reported  by 95 

Gibert,  Dr.,  Experiments,  hypnotizing  at  a  distance.. .  59 

Ghost-stories,  Status  of i 

Glissoid,  Mr.  E.  M.,  Hypnotic  experiments  by 231 

Gurney,  Mr.  E. ,  Experiments 21 

"  "       Cases  reported,  263-266,  284-289,  291- 

294,  295,  299 

Gurwood,  John,  His  supposed  spirit 170 

"              "      His  crest 171 

"              "       In  the  Peninsular  War 173 

Guthrie,    Malcolm,    Experiments    in    Thought-Trans- 
ference   18 

H. 

Hammond,  Dr.  Wm.  A.,  Experiments  reported  by 56 

Harris,  Surgeon,  A  child's  vision,  case  reported 282 

Hauffe",  Madame,  The  Seeress  of  Proverst 83-86 

Hodgson,  Dr.  Richard,  Case  reported  by 122 


340  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Hosmer,  Harriet,  Borderland  case 271 

Hypnotism,  In  literature 2 

"  Historical  sketch  of, 28 

"  Braid's  theory  of 31 

Mesmer's  theory  of 29 

"  Charcot's  theory  of 33 

Bernheim's  theory  of 3^-39 

Stages  of 41,  51,  52 

"  Therapeutic  effects  of 42-50 

"  Psychic  aspect  of 51-71 

"  Rapport  in 54 

"  Suggestion  in 61-67 

Hypnotizing  at  a  distance 57 

"  "          "        Experiments  by  Prof.  Janet 

and  Dr.  Gibert 58 

"  "          "        Experiments  by  Prof.  Richet 

and  Dr.  He"ricourt 60 

I. 

Individual,  The,  Conception  of 149 

J. 

James,  Prof.,  Case  examined  by 122 

Jane,  Clairvoyance  of 9°~94 

Janet,  Prof.,  Hypnotizing  at  a  distance 60 

"          "      Hypnotic  experiments  by 131 

Joan  of  Arc,  Her  voices  and  visions  221 

Joy,  Mr.  A. ,  Case  hallucination  affecting  sight,  hearing 

and  touch 291 

L. 

L.  A.  W.,  Remarkable  dream  or  vision. 263 

Le'onie,  I^ontine,  Le"onore 131-135 

I4e"beault,  Dr.,  Suggestion  fulfilled  after  many  days. . .       63 

"  "     Suggests  a  disappearance 66 

Lucidity,  See  Clairvoyance. 

M. 
"  Marie,"  Clairvoyance  of 95~99 


INDEX.  341 

PAGE 

Mesmer,  Anton 29 

Mesmerists,  The  early 31 

Mesmerization  of  inanimate  objects 69 

Magnetized  water,  Detection  of 71,  215 

M.  I/.,  Clairvoyance  of 105-108 

Moses,  The  vision  of , 323 

Mouat,  Mr.  R. ,  Narrates  a  case,  phantasms 299 

Myers,  Mr.  F.  W.  H.,  His  important  work 145 

"         "  "          Cases  examined  and  reported  by, 

91,  124,  164,  214 

N. 

Newnham,  Rev.  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  Planchette  writing..  164-168 

O. 

Oracles,  Greek 79 

P. 

Perception,  Definition  of 225 

Perceptions,  which  are  reckoned  as  hallucinations 226 

Personality,  Double  or  multiplex 116 

"  "  "        cases  of 117,124-128 

"  "       in  dreaming 141 

Phantasms  of  the  Living,  Cases  from 231,  263,  289 

"  Produced  at  a  distance,  case 234-238 

"  Collective  cases 293,  294,  295-299 

Phenomena,  Psychical,  Compared  with  physical 311 

Planchette 154-180 

Podmore,  Mr.  F. ,  Case  by 288 

Psychical  Research,  Eng.  Society  for,  established 3 

Puysegur,  Marquis  de 30 

B. 

R.,  Miss,  and  Miss  V.,  Planchette  writing 168 

Rapport,  Hypnotic,  Example 56 

"  "  Experiments  by  Mr.  Gurney  and 

Dr.  Myers 56 

"               "           Experiments  by  Dr.  Hammond ..  56 

"              "          At  a  distance 57 


342  INDEX. 


PAGE 


Reed,  On  Personality 1 16 

Revelation,  A  modern 327 

Richardson,  Mrs.  M.  A.,  Borderland  case  reported  by..     269 

Russell,  Mrs.  J.  M.,  Case  by 246-248 

Ruth,  Mrs.  Wickham's  servant,  Crystal-gazing 214 

S. 

Sidgwick,  Prof.  H.,  Vice-Pres.  S.  P.  R  5 

Mrs.  H.,  Cases  reported  by 88-94 

Society  for  Psychical  Research,  formation  of 3-5,  316 

Socrates,  Daemon  of 220 

Somnambulism 129 

"  Hypnotic 131 

Stainton,  Moses,  Rev.  W.,  Phantoms  perceived  by.  237,  238 

Stead,  W.  T. ,  His  automatic  writing 186 

"  "      Miss  A. 's  journey  automatically  described 

by 188 

"  "      Needs  of  a  stranger  written  out  by 189 

"  "      His  correspondent  in  a  railway  car 192 

Stewart,  Prof.  Balfour 5 

Subliminal  self,  The  key  to  many  psychical  phenomena.     260 

"  "    Sources  of  information  of 177 

"  "    Theory  of 257 

Suggestion,  Post-hypnotic 61 

Smith,  J.  W.,  and  Kate,  Experiments 22 

Swedenborg,  Clairvoyance  of 81-83 

T. 

Telepathy,  Theories  regarding 250-261 

"          Explained  by  the  action  of  the  sublim- 
inal self 257-261 

"          No  longer  a  mere  fancy 309 

Thought-transference,  First  report  on 6 

"  "  Classification u 

"  "  Experiments  by  diagrams 18 

"  "  Tested  by  taste 21 

"  "  "         objects 13 

"  ««  "        cards 13 


INDEX. 


343 


PACK 

Thought-transference,  Tested  by  fictitious  names 14 

"         two  percipients 23,  24 

Tyndall,  Prof.,  His  Belfast  address,  effect  of 312-313 

U. 

Urim  and  Thummim,  A  method  of  Crystal-gazing 204 

V. 

V. ,  Louis,  Case  of 124 

V.,  Miss,  Planchette  writing  by 159-164 

Verity,  The  Misses,  perceive  induced  phantasms. . .  239-244 

Visions,  Percipient  being  awake 282 

"        Cases 282,  284-286,  289-291,  304 

Voisin,  Dr.,  Cases  reported  by 124,  148 

W. 

Water,  magnetized,  detected  by  patients 71,  77 

Wedgwood,  Mr.  H.,  Planchette-writing 168-174 

Willing  game 6 

Wyld,  Dr.,  Case  reported  by 294 

X. 

X.,  Case  illustrating  sensory  automatism 184 

X.,  Felida,  Case,  double  personality 117-119 

X.  Miss.,  On  Crystal-gazing 209 

Y. 

Young,  Dr.  A.  K.,  Remarkable  dream  or  vision 266 

Z. 

Z.,  Alma,  Case  of 125 

Zoist,  The,  Report  of  cases  in 42 


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HENRY  HOLT  &  CO., 


40925 


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